EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

OR  THE  CULTURE  OF 
CHARACTER 


A  BOOK  FOR  TEACHERS'  READING  CIRCLES 
NORMAL  CLASSES,  AND  INDIVIDUAL  TEACHERS 


BY 
L.  H.  JONES,  A.M. 

PRESIDENT  MICHIGAN  STATE  NORMAL  COLLEGE,  AUTHOR  OF  THE 

JONES  READERS,  AND   FORMERLY  SUPERINTENDENT  OF 

SCHOOLS  IN   INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA 

AND  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1911,  BY  L.  H.  JONES 

ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

811.3 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


FOREWORD 

Perhaps  #16  sane  person  ever  lived  to  be  fifty 
years  of  age  without  wishing  at  least  once  that  he 
could  live  his  life  over  again,  bringing  back  to  his 
youth  the  experience  of  his  maturity.  Realizing 
that  this  is  impossible  for  himself,  he  earnestly  de- 
sires that  his  children,  and,  if  his  sympathies  are 
broad,  other  young  people,  shall  become  wise  ere 
it  is  too  late  to  profit  by  their  wisdom.  But  in  his 
anxiety  for  the  young  he  frequently  mistakes  knowl- 
edge for  wisdom;  and  in  his  theory  of  education  he 
is  liable  to  leave  out  of  account  that  growth  or 
development  of  the  soul  which  alone  makes  a 
person  capable  of  using  aright  his  treasures  of 
acquired  learning.  This  little  book  is  devoted  to 
a  discussion  of  the  best  ways  of  attaining  sound 
character  through  the  process  of  acquiring  an  edu- 
cation under  the  discipline  of  the  school  and  other 

institutions  of  civilization. 

L.  H.  JONES 

YPSILANTI,  MICHIGAN 


Hi 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 
II.  SELF-ACTIVITY.    .    . 

III.  SELF-REVELATION   . 

IV.  SELF-DIRECTION  .    . 
V.  SELF-REALIZATION. 


PAGE 
I 

33 

84 

I63 

I78 


EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 

With  so  large  a  theme  as  education,  no  book  of 
modest  size  can  treat  more  than  a  small  part  of  the 
subject.  The  point  of  view  chosen  will  determine 
the  range  and  character  of  the  details.  Much  will 
be  omitted,  not  because  it  is  untrue  or  even  unim- 
portant, but  because  it  is  irrelevant.  Other  things 
may  be  included,  not  because  they  are  the  most  im- 
portant that  can  be  said,  but  because  they  are  neces- 
sary to  the  proper  unfolding  of  the  line  of  thought 
chosen.  This  book  is  frankly  one-sided,  —  devoted 
to  the  discussion  of  one  important  phase  of  educa- 
tion, namely  growth,  as  distinguished  from  other 
aspects  of  the  same  subject.  The  idea  of  growth  is, 
however,  so  fundamental  in  all  education  that  a  dis- 
cussion of  this  phase  leads  inevitably  to  a  considera- 
tion of  the  other  aspects  as  well ;  so  that  this  point 
of  view,  while  confessedly  partial,  is  after  all  a  cen- 
tral one.  Whatever  of  symmetry  may  be  found  in 
the  present  work,  therefore,  is  due  rather  to  this 
fundamental  character  of  growth  as  an  element  in 


2  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  process  of  education  than  to  any  intention  on 
the  part  of  the  author  toward  full  or  balanced 
treatment 

This  fundamental  idea  of  growth  is  not  so  simple 
as  it  might  at  first  seem.  Its  relations  are  numerous 
and  important,  and  its  implications  varied  and  inclu- 
sive. It  is  the  function  of  this  chapter  to  explain 
and  illustrate  the  nature  of  this  idea  and  some  of 
its  most  important  implications,  to  the  end  that  the 
remaining  chapters  may  be  read  in  the  light  thus 
shed  upon  them. 

Growth  can  take  place  only  in  an  individual  some- 
thing which  can  by  its  own  power  react  on  some- 
thing else  so  as  to  get  benefit  out  of  such  contact, 
thus  producing  within  itself  certain  changes  lead- 
ing toward  perfection.  There  is,  therefore,  in  every 
actual  case  of  true  growth  these  three  essentials :  a 
something  capable  of  these  worthy  changes  in  its 
own  nature,  certain  processes  comparable  to  nutri- 
tion and  exercise,  and  a  noticeable  change  for  the 
better  in  the  thing  receiving  the  nutrition  and  taking 
the  exercise.  The  best  growth  implies  also  some 
care  in  the  arrangement  by  which  the  environment 
may  be  made  to  call  out  the  proper  reactions  in  the 
growing  agent,  —  that  is,  cultivation  or  culture. 

This  general  statement  of  the  law  shows  its  appli- 
cability alike  to  material  and  spiritual  existences, 
being  as  true  of  the  human  soul  as  of  the  human 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  3 

body,  though  the  processes  are  different  in  the  two 
cases,  and  nutrition  fit  for  the  soul  may  be  quite  a 
different  thing  from  that  which  will  serve  a  like 
purpose  for  the  body.  The  author  believes  that 
each  human  mind  (soul,  spirit)  is  an  entity,  or  some- 
thing capable  of  such  reactions  upon  other  things 
in  the  universe  as  to  gain  both  helpful  exercise  and 
wholesome  nutrition.  The  problem  of  intentional  or 
directed  education  is  largely  a  problem  of  directing 
these  reactions  so  that  the  exercise  may  become  as 
helpful,  and  the  nutrition  as  wholesome  and  effective 
as  possible,  in  bringing  the  immortal,  potential  spirit 
into  all  the  perfection  implied  in  its  type.  The  body 
of  this  book  will  be  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  this 
problem. 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  much  of  the  language 
used  in  these  preliminary  pages  is  figurative;  for 
instance,  the  expression  "  within  itself "  is  not  in  all 
cases  used  in  a  spatial  sense ;  nor  is  "  nutrition  " 
used  in  a  material  sense.  Accurate  studies  in  psy- 
chology are  so  recent  that  language  has  not  yet 
adapted  itself  to  the  simple  and  direct  expression 
of  many  of  the  most  important  discoveries  of  this 
science  of  the  human  being.  Close  attention  to  the 
context  will  doubtless,  in  all  these  cases,  make  plain 
the  meaning  intended. 

The  author  writes  out  of  an  experience  of  more 
than  forty  years  of  teaching  and  supervision  of 


4  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

schools ;  and  it  is  the  result  of  this  extensive  experi- 
ence in  actual  school  work  that  he  has  wrought  into 
these  pages,  rather  than  a  logical  analysis  of  the 
theme  from  the  standpoint  of  the  abstract  student. 
However,  the  results  of  a  somewhat  wide  profes- 
sional reading  have  been  used  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  theme. 

The  point  of  view  is  further  made  clear  by  the 
explanation  of  certain  beliefs  of  the  author,  which 
have  become  so  well  established  as  to  direct  and 
control  his  thinking  and  his  interpretation  of  facts. 
Fundamental  among  these  is  the  belief  that  the 
human  being  whose  education  is  discussed  in  these 
pages  is,  in  its  essence,  a  spiritual  being,  that  is, 
a  being  whose  essential  nature  is  expressed  by  its 
thinking,  feeling,  and  willing ;  and  that  its  material 
body  is  merely  a  necessary  condition  to  existence 
in  this  world  of  matter.  The  body  is  the  instrument 
of  the  mind  or  soul,  and  as  such  is  worthy  of  all  the 
attention  that  it  is  likely  to  receive  in  any  system 
of  education.  Its  development  and  training  are  of 
the  utmost  importance  so  long  as  its  subordinate 
position  as  a  useful  instrument  to  the  spirit  is 
recognized.  But  the  real  education  discussed  in  this 
book  is  the  education  of  the  spirit,  often  carried 
out,  it  is  true,  through  the  right  use  of  the  bodily 
organs,  by  which  alone  one  spirit  has  definite  means 
of  communication  with  other  spirits  or  persons. 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  5 

There  is  implied  underneath  this  view  the  belief  in 
the  immortality  of  the  individual  human  soul,  since 
it  is  everywhere  considered  as  enduring  and  ac- 
countable ;  while  the  body  is  treated  as  a  necessary 
condition  of  the  performance  of  human  functions 
and  therefore  as  an  actual  part  of  the  human  being. 

There  is  here  no  intention  to  enter  upon  a  theo- 
logical discussion,  but  rather  to  make  plain  the  psy- 
chological principle  which  is  an  important  inter- 
preting idea  for  the  succeeding  chapters  of  this  work. 
Nor  is  there  the  least  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
author  to  dispute  with  the  physiological  psycholo- 
gists whose  recent  discoveries  make  up  the  most 
brilliant  and  helpful  chapter  of  educational  psy- 
chology of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  The  scien- 
tific study  of  the  body,  and  especially  of  the  nervous 
system  in  relation  to  mind  action,  cannot  be  too 
highly  commended;  nor  do  I  see  any  reason  to 
quarrel  with  the  results  of  such  scientific  study  as 
they  are  given  us  direct  from  the  psychological 
laboratory.  It  is  only  when  physiology  is  called 
psychology,  or  conditions  are  called  causes,  that  the 
psychologist  has  a  right  to  protest. 

The  writer  believes  that  there  is  a  wide  difference 
between  the  cause  of  mental  action  and  the  mere 
occasion  or  condition  of  such  action ;  and  that  while 
conditions  or  occasions,  or  even  motives,  may  come 
to  the  spirit  through  the  body,  the  real  power  to 


6  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

begin,  direct,  and  control  such  action  is  lodged  with 
the  soul  and  not  in  the  body.  Numerous  illustra- 
tions of  this  difference  will  occur  in  the  succeeding 
chapters.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  author 
believes  in  the  essential  freedom  of  the  human  will 
to  a  degree  at  least  which  develops  the  idea  of 
accountability  in  the  human  being  as  his  right  edu- 
cation goes  forward.  The  whole  structure  of  modern 
education,  as  developed  in  the  later  chapters,  is 
based  on  this  belief.  Any  being  not  accountable  — 
not  responsible  —  is  not  capable  of  moral  develop- 
ment or  growth.  Accountability  or  responsibility  is 
inconceivable  without  a  degree  of  freedom  in  the 
choice  of  one's  course  in  life.  Nor  does  this  view 
conflict  at  all  with  the  practical  limitations  which 
one  constantly  sees  placed  upon  human  conduct  by 
heredity  and  environment.  Freedom  of  the  will  as 
used  here  does  not  imply  the  ability  to  overcome 
obstacles  of  heredity  or  environment  at  once  or  in 
any  particular  instance,  but  rather  the  power  to 
retain  a  right  attitude  of  the  mind  and  thus  achieve 
a  spiritual  result  similar  to  that  of  victory  over 
external  forces.  The  moral  integrity  of  a  person  is 
often  maintained  under  appearances  that  would  in- 
dicate the  opposite  to  a  superficial  observer.  The 
power  of  the  mind  to  develop  its  selfhood,  to  main- 
tain its  integrity,  and  to  renovate  itself  through  ideals 
and  motives  and  the  spiritual  activities  to  which 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  7 

they  lead,  is  the  divinest  capacity  of  the  human 
being.  The  power  of  one  person  to  enter  vicari- 
ously into  another's  life,  through  the  implanting  of 
ideals  and  motives,  is  a  truth  that  lies  close  to  the 
heart  of  the  profession  of  teaching,  giving  to  educa- 
tional work  its  highest  inspiration.  The  possibility 
of  doing  this  without  disturbing  the  selfhood  of  the 
pupil  is  due  to  the  fact  of  essential  freedom  as  here 
described.  While  many  teachers  semiconsciously 
appreciate  these  conditions  and  partly  apply  these 
principles  in  teaching,  it  is  left  to  those  who  clearly 
and  philosophically  understand  them  to  apply  them 
most  fully,  and  thus  to  set  up  standards  which 
others  without  this  clear  view  semiconsciously  imi- 
tate. There  would  be  no  high  standard  to  imitate, 
however,  did  not  some  one  take  the  pains  to  think 
out  and  apply  the  fundamental  principles  involved. 

As  has  been  already  suggested,  this  doctrine  of 
freedom  of  the  will  (which  will  be  more  fully  devel- 
oped in  a  later  chapter)  is  inseparably  connected 
with  questions  of  heredity  and  environment.  As 
these  influences  assist  or  retard  the  educational 
process,  it  seems  appropriate  here  to  explain  those 
views  of  heredity  involved  in  that  theory  of  the  free 
will  which  has  been  stated  herein,  and  which  is 
applied  and  enforced  in  the  succeeding  chapters.  In 
doing  this  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  upon  that  illimit- 
able field  of  discussion  over  which  the  scientists 


8  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  philosophers  of  the  world  have  driven  one 
another  in  fruitless  advance  and  retreat  for  many 
centuries.  A  few  plain  statements,  which  will  appeal 
to  the  reason  of  the  fairly  well  educated,  will  suffice 
for  our  purpose,  leaving  the  hairsplitting  arguments 
of  philosophic  scientists  and  scientific  philosophers 
to  those  who  make  a  specialty  of  such  intricate 
studies.  There  will  be  selected  here  only  those 
phases  of  these  subjects  which  are  likely  to  be  of 
immediate  advantage  to  practical  teachers  engaged 
in  their  daily  work  in  the  schoolroom. 

If  heredity,  in  an  individual  case,  be  separated 
from  environment,  as  I  think  it  may  be  for  purposes 
of  thought  at  least,  it  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  persist- 
ent tendency.  It  includes  those  forces  which  tend, 
in  the  process  of  growth,  to  modify  or  direct  action 
irrespective  of  particular  environment.  There  are 
native  tendencies,  too,  for  the  individual,  which  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  inherited  ones,  in 
the  ordinary  use  of  the  word  "  inherited." 

The  author  disclaims  any  intention  of  entering 
upon  the  discussion  of  the  great  question  of  the 
spiritual  interpretation  of  the  universe,  made  so 
interesting  through  discoveries  in  modern  science 
and  the  results  of  recent  philosophic  thinking.  Such 
discussion  seems  unnecessary,  inasmuch  as  the  re- 
sults, so  far  as  demonstrated,  in  no  wise  affect  the 
position  assumed  by  the  writer  in  this  work.  Should 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  9 

the  champion  of  materialism  substantiate  all  he  sus- 
pects to  be  true,  it  would  chiefly  result  in  changing 
certain  names;  while  if  those  philosophers  who  in- 
sist that  even  what  is  called  matter  is  but  a  mode 
of  spiritual  activity  should  succeed  in  proving  their 
contention,  the  conclusion  would  but  emphasize  the 
teachings  here  exemplified.  The  term  "  matter " 
whenever  used  in  these  pages  is  used  in  its  ordinary 
meaning ;  and  the  word  "  spirit "  is  applied  to  beings 
whose  nature  is  expressed  by  such  happy  combina- 
tion of  thinking  and  feeling  and  choosing  as  to  con- 
stitute a  true  personality. 

As  an  example  of  a  native  tendency  take  an  illus- 
tration from  the  germ  of  a  seed.  If  the  germ  of  a 
seed  be  examined  under  a  microscope,  there  cannot 
be  found  in  it  a  single  root  cell.  But  the  first  cell 
that  forms  at  one  end  of  the  germ  in  the  first  act  of 
growth  is  a  root  cell,  and  its  first  instinct  is  to  seek 
the  soil ;  while  the  first  cell  formed  at  the  other  end 
is  a  stem  cell,  and  it  turns  toward  the  light.  These 
are  native  or  race  tendencies,  inherent  in  the  nature 
of  the  plant  as  a  plant.  If  one's  thinking  be  carried 
back  far  enough,  it  may  be  seen  that  even  this  tend- 
ency was  orginally  received  through  heredity,  but 
it  is  now  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  constitution  of  all 
plants  as  to  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  their  essential 
nature.  The  tendency  of  a  particular  rose  plant, 
however,  to  fill  the  cell  in  its  flower  leaves  with  red 


io  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

coloring  matter  rather  than  with  yellow  is  a  clearly 
inherited  tendency,  involving  a  long  preceding  line 
of  roses,  which  to  some  extent,  under  peculiar  con- 
ditions, were  led  to  do  this  same  thing.  To  make 
its  petals  red  is  not  a  tendency  of  the  plant  as  a 
plant;  therefore  it  is  not  a  native  tendency  but  an 
inherited  one,  now  inhering  in  this  rose  because  a 
certain  number  of  its  predecessors  have  done  so 
increasingly  through  a  long  line  of  descent.  In  like 
manner  the  tendency  of  a  child  to  think,  or  to  feel, 
or  to  choose,  under  appropriate  conditions,  is  a 
native  tendency,  inherent  in  each  child  as  represent- 
ing its  human  nature.  But  his  tendency  to  run 
excessively  to  feeling  rather  than  thought,  or  to 
thought  rather  than  feeling,  is  an  hereditary  tend- 
ency. So  any  other  noticeably  peculiar  mental  ac- 
tion, which  is  not  immediately  dependent  on  any 
special  environment,  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  mat- 
ter of  hereditary  tendency.  Many  thinkers,  in  the 
face  of  much  seeming  testimony  to  the  contrary, 
have  denied  the  transmission  from  one  generation 
to  another  of  these  acquired  characteristics  or  tend- 
encies, saying  that  all  tendencies  found  at  birth  are 
native  tendencies,  and  that  all  others  noticeable  in 
a  growing  individual,  amounting  to  peculiarities  in 
many  cases,  are  due  in  each  individual  to  the 
influence  of  environment.  They  claim  that  all  such 
peculiarities  die  with  the  death  of  the  individual 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  1 1 

manifesting  them.  Such  writers  account  for  the  in- 
finite variety  of  human  traits  solely  on  the  basis  of 
environment,  and  they  are  quite  willing  to  boast  that 
all  are  born  free,  since  no  one  is  bound  by  hereditary 
tendencies.  They  are  forced  to  admit,  however,  by 
their  own  theory,  that  although  we  have  no  inher- 
ited tendencies  we  are  not  really  born  free,  for  we 
enter  at  birth  into  a  set  of  ideals,  customs,  laws,  and 
institutions  which  proceed  to  bind  us  quite  as  effec- 
tually as  we  could  have  been  bound  by  hereditary 
tendencies.  In  other  words,  the  denial  of  the  trans- 
mission of  acquired  characteristics  does  not  seem  to 
me  to  be  any  great  argument  in  favor  of  freedom  of 
the  will,  so  long  at  least  as  we  are  compelled  to 
admit  the  force  of  environment.  As  I  shall  show 
elsewhere,  true  freedom  of  the  will  is  not  affected 
by  such  questions.  The  argument  against  the  trans- 
mission of  hereditary  tendencies  breaks  down,  more- 
over, under  the  accumulation  of  evidence  in  the  view 
of  every  observing  student.  The  theory  of  free  will 
taught  in  this  book  is  not  that  one  is  born  "  free  " 
from  hereditary  tendencies,  or  "  free  "  from  the  in- 
fluence of  environment ;  but  rather  that  one  is  born 
with  the  power  to  become  free  in  the  midst  of  both. 
Still  other  biological  scientists  claim  that  only 
those  characteristics  which  have  become  thoroughly 
ingrained  in  the  nature  of  the  race  are  ever  trans- 
mitted. This  is  only  a  special  way  of  admitting  that 


12  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

acquired  characteristics  are  transmitted,  and  that 
the  more  fully  they  have  been  ingrained  in  the 
nature  by  frequent  and  uninterrupted  transmission, 
the  surer  are  they  to  be  transmitted  regularly;  all 
of  which  seems  to  be  the  truth  when  stated  in  this 
latter  form.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  while 
learned  scientists  have  been  asserting  that  it  is 
utterly  impossible  that  recently  acquired  character- 
istics can  be  transmitted,  either  in  plant  or  animal 
life,  Luther  Burbank  has  proved  that  they  are  so 
transmitted  in  his  own  experimental  gardens.  In 
regard  to  the  evidence  shown  there  in  plant  life  he 
has  recently  said  that  he  sees  no  reason  why  analo- 
gous laws  should  not  hold  in  animal  life;  and  that 
such  laws,  in  all  probability,  are  not  confined  to 
bodily  traits,  but  belong  equally  to  spiritual  attri- 
butes. While,  of  course,  Mr.  Burbank's  statements 
in  regard  to  spiritual  heredity  are  only  matters  of 
theory  with  him,  they  have  the  force  which  accom- 
panies the  thinking  of  a  man  whose  investigations 
in  an  analogous  field  give  him  the  right  to  speak 
with  some  degree  of  confidence. 

The  theory  followed  in  this  book  is  that  spiritual 
as  well  as  bodily  characteristics  are  transmitted 
from  parents  to  children,  but  under  laws  not  yet 
well  understood;  that  the  most  generally  known 
law  governing  the  case  is  that  recently  acquired 
characteristics  are  much  less  likely  to  be  transmitted 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  13 

than  those  thoroughly  ingrained  in  the  nature  by 
a  long  line  of  successive  transmissions;  and  that 
when  these  recent  characteristics  are  inherited,  they 
are  more  likely  to  be  irregularly  and  erratically 
transmitted.  Of  course,  when  these  erratically  trans- 
mitted characteristics  are  repeated  many  times 
through  partial  or  complete  transmission,  they  be- 
come fixed,  and  can  be  relied  upon  to  descend  with 
certainty  and  regularity  from  parents  to  children. 

This  general  law  governs  both  spiritual  character- 
istics and  bodily  peculiarities.  It  is  recognized  that 
in  this  possibility  of  transmission,  from  parents  to 
children,  of  good  qualities  that  have  been  acquired 
in  one  generation  or  in  many  generations,  there  lies 
the  great  hope  that  education  (used  in  its  largest 
sense)  will  eventually  reclaim  the  world.  It  is  also 
recognized  that  evil  has  the  same  general  opportu- 
nity for  increasing  its  range  of  power  over  the 
world  as  has  good,  were  it  not  for  two  factors, 
namely  (i)  the  possibility  of  vicarious  regeneration 
of  others  by  faithful  parents  and  teachers,  who  fur- 
nish ideals  and  motives ;  and  (2)  the  greater  strength 
and  persistence  of  good  over  evil  in  the  world. 
Nature  is  favorable  to  recovery,  whether  the  dis- 
ease be  physical  or  moral.  This  eternal  health  and 
sanity  at  the  heart  of  things  is  the  saving  element 
in  all  life.  The  possibility  of  evil  —  degeneracy  —  is 
the  necessary  accompaniment  of  high  development 


I4  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  supernal  worth  in  human  character;  but  it  is 
only  the  negative  side,  and  it  has  not  the  strength 
nor  the  persistence  of  the  positive,  aggressive,  sav- 
ing element  in  the  good.  It  must  \>e  possible  for  one 
to  choose  the  evil  in  order  that  his  choice  of  the 
good  be  of  the  highest  worth  and  effect  in  charac- 
ter culture;  but  the  motives  to  right  choice  glow 
with  a  radiant  steadiness  and  a  permanency  which 
make  them  finally  attractive  over  the  seductions  of 
the  evil  life.  The  doctrine  of  heredity,  then,  when 
well  understood,  is  in  happy  accordance  with  right 
methods  in  education,  preserving  and  handing  down 
to  generations  yet  unborn  every  sincere  effort  in 
the  right  direction.  It  is  full  of  suggestion  to  the 
earnest  teacher  and  a  self-replenishing  source  of  in- 
spiration. There  is  here  no  support  for  pessimism  or 
excuse  for  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire  in  education. 
Even  the  question  of  environment  is  also,  to  some 
extent,  a  question  of  inheritance.  At  least  a  man 
may  be  said,  somewhat  figuratively,  perhaps,  to  in- 
herit a  set  of  social  standards,  ideals  of  life  and 
conduct,  customs,  laws  and  institutions  (domestic, 
social,  political,  and  religious),  and  other  limitations 
constituting  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  per- 
taining to  the  community  in  which  he  is  born  and 
in  which  his  education  must  take  place.  These  in- 
fluences begin  their  work  upon  him  before  he  be- 
comes conscious  of  their  full  meaning  or  bearing  on 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  15 

his  life;  and,  before  he  is  aware,  they  produce  an 
effect  on  his  character  quite  as  forceful  for  good  or 
evil  as  are  even  the  most  imperious  inherited  traits. 
It  must  be  repeated,  however,  that  neither  the 
hereditary  predispositions  nor  these  forces  of  envi- 
ronment constitute  a  prohibition  against  freedom  of 
the  will,  that  is,  its  power  to  try  to  overcome  them.  They 
merely  offer  obstacles  that  should  challenge  action 
instead  of  precluding  it.  By  freedom  of  the  will  is 
not  meant  that  there  are  no  obstacles  to  its  com- 
plete sway,  but  rather  that  the  human  being  has  the 
power  or  tendency  to  choose  to  stand  against  these 
outside  forces.  If  the  soul  cannot  fully  conquer 
these  obstacles,  it  can  at  least  minimize  their  evil 
effects.  Herein  is  the  inspiration  of  the  true  teacher, 
—  the  opportunity  to  offer  motives  which  shall  ap- 
peal to  this  free  will  and  call  out  its  action  toward 
overcoming  adverse  inheritance  or  environment, 
and  toward  carrying  forward  the  soul's  own  growth. 
The  vicarious  element  in  human  life,  so  pathetically 
applied  by  Jesus  Christ  and  all  the  martyrs  and  the 
saviors  of  men,  is  at  bottom  the  principle  which 
underlies  the  process  of  intentional  education  such 
as  that  offered  by  the  school  through  the  teacher. 
The  teacher  becomes  a  part  of  the  new  environment, 
offering  nobler  and  more  potent  motives  than  those 
incidentally  offered  by  heredity  and  the  former  envi- 
ronment. Whatever  else  the  school  may  accomplish 


16  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

through  the  teacher,  it  must  always  encourage  this 
growth  of  the  soul  and  an  effort  toward  more 
exalted  ends  than  mere  chance  offers,  thus  leading 
to  the  development  of  noble  character  through 
heroic  living. 

The  act  of  teaching,  then,  is  seen  to  be  a  perfectly 
natural  process,  being  founded  definitely  on  the 
principles  of  human  nature.  The  study  of  human 
nature  has  usually  been  called  psychology,  and 
under  this  name  has  been  a  subject  regarded  with 
undue  prejudice  among  teachers  who  have  given  it 
but  slight  attention  or  have  studied  it  only  in  the 
abstract.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  its  concrete  forms, 
that  is,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  everyday  actions  of 
all  classes  of  people,  it  is  an  intensely  interesting 
and  absorbing  study.  The  prior  study  of  psychol- 
ogy proper,  that  is,  human  nature  as  a  science,  is 
profitable  to  teachers  mainly  in  the  degree  in  which 
it  enables  them  to  interpret  more  rapidly  and  effec- 
tively human  nature  exhibited  in  actual  life,  and 
especially  in  the  schoolroom.  The  succeeding  chap- 
ters of  this  book  elaborate  a  theory  of  education  in 
harmony  with  the  latest  and  best  results  of  psycho- 
logical study  so  far  as  the  author  can  interpret  them, 
though  little  attempt  is  made  to  explain  psychology 
itself.  It  is  believed  that  the  principles  of  psychology 
are  so  simply  and  definitely  illustrated  by  the  suc- 
cessive discussions  that  all  will  be  seen  to  be  in  full 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  17 

harmony  with  human  nature,  even  by  those  who 
have  had  no  special  interest  in  psychological  studies ; 
while  to  those  more  thoroughly  trained  in  psy- 
chology by  previous  study  a  deeper  meaning  and 
worthier  suggestion  will  be  apparent. 

The  author  is  aware  that  a  few  favored  persons 
inherit  the  ability  to  understand  human  nature  in 
the  concrete  without  studying  it  in  the  abstract,  but 
he  is  also  aware  that  most  people  need  all  the  help 
possible  before  attempting  to  deal  with  so  complex 
a  problem  as  a  school ;  and  he  is  therefore  a  firm 
believer  in  the  study  of  psychology  and  allied  sub- 
jects by  all  persons  who  would  aspire  to  the  high 
title  of  teacher.  Through  long  experience  in  teach- 
ing and  the  supervision  of  schools  he  has  observed 
that  those  young  teachers  who  at  first  teach  so  well 
by  native  grace,  lose  this  power  after  a  little  while 
unless  they  grow  interested  in  a  more  scientific 
study  of  their  work.  Their  supply  of  native  or  in- 
herited tact  is  soon  exhausted,  and  their  interest,  at 
first  stimulated  by  novelty,  begins  to  wane  unless  a 
careful  study  of  human  nature  and  its  needs  supplies 
a  more  permanent  set  of  motives.  Without  such 
study  the  teacher  who  started  out  as  a  wise,  tactful, 
successful  worker  frequently  grows  into  a  routine 
follower  of  forms,  and  ends  in  being  a  mediocre, 
commonplace,  dissatisfied  drudge.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  author  has  seen  those  who  blundered 


18  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

openly  and  unmistakably  at  first,  saved  by  their  ear- 
nestness and  enthusiasm,  which  led  them  to  study 
their  profession.  Many  of  these  he  has  seen  grow 
into  teachers  of  great  tact,  freedom,  and  efficiency, 
through  this  more  fundamental  understanding  of  the 
principles  of  teaching.  In  fact,  his  observations  have 
led  him  into  the  belief  that  in  general  only  those 
who  keep  an  interest  in  the  continued  study  of  the 
principles  of  their  work  and  their  applications,  con- 
tinue to  be  efficient  as  the  years  go  by,  or  attain  to 
any  degree  of  success  which  would  warrant  their 
being  considered  as  professional  teachers.  While 
these  truths  are  in  general  applicable  to  the  members 
of  any  profession,  as  a  keen  observer  will  have  full 
opportunity  to  verify,  they  may  be  said  to  be  espe- 
cially applicable  to  teachers,  because  the  large  scope 
of  their  work,  and  the  extreme  complexity  of  human 
nature  and  of  shifting  social  and  political  conditions, 
all  tend  to  make  the  intelligent  practice  of  their 
profession  more  difficult  than  that  of  any  other.  Yet 
I  think  that  most  of  us  can  see  many  instances  of 
the  potency  of  these  tests  as  applied  to  ministers, 
doctors,  and  lawyers  who  have  come  under  our 
observation. 

Those  phases  of  psychology  applicable  to  school 
education  are  so  inwoven  with  the  very  texture  of 
the  remaining  chapters,  and  so  fully  explained  by 
the  illustrations  given,  that  it  has  not  been  deemed 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  19 

necessary  to  make  a  detailed  separate  treatment  of 
the  subject  in  this  preliminary  chapter.  There  is, 
however,  one  phase  of  the  subject  so  fundamental 
that  it  is  everywhere  implied  and  used  rather  than 
explained,  and  so  it  seems  better  to  make  some 
detailed  study  of  it  here  before  going  to  its  applica- 
tions in  the  following  chapters. 

It  has  been  suggested  in  earlier  pages  that  this 
book  is  written  in  the  belief  that  the  human  soul  is 
a  spiritual  being,  and  that  its  connection  with  the 
material  body  is  an  incident  that  in  no  way  changes 
its  spiritual  nature.  This  statement  does  not  bring 
into  question  any  theory  as  to  how  the  soul  has 
become  what  it  is,  whether  by  special  creation  or  by 
evolution  of  some  sort,  but  merely  refers  to  its  pres- 
ent condition. 

This  spiritual  nature  consists  in  the  fact  that  on 
occasion  the  soul  can  think  and  feel  and  choose, — 
actions  which  no  being  composed  entirely  of  matter 
can  perform.  It  has  the  power,  too,  to  maintain 
such  relations  of  these  three  activities  as  prove  it  a 
person.  Whenever  in  this  volume  the  word  "  spirit " 
"  mind,"  or  "  soul "  is  used  as  a  noun,  or  whenever 
the  word  "  spiritual "  is  used  as  an  adjective,  there 
is  implied  the  above  meaning,  namely,  the  ability  to 
think,  feel,  and  choose,  in  contradistinction  to  any 
action  that  is  merely  reflex  or  automatic,  such  as 
might  belong  to  a  material  object.  This  distinction 


20  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

between  spirit  and  matter  is  fundamental,  and  with 
its  implications  will  serve  to  give  distinctive  tone 
to  all  that  may  be  said  in  the  following  pages. 

By  the  human  soul,  however,  is  meant  the  soul 
actually  connected  with  and  using  the  body.  This 
constitutes  its  human  aspects.  What  the  soul  may 
be  after  it  leaves  the  body,  or  what  its  mode  of  life 
may  then  be,  is  not  here  under  consideration.  The 
soul  is  the  element  which  may  be  educated,  while 
the  body  alone  is  powerless.  So  long  as  the  body  is 
informed  and  interpenetrated  by  the  spirit  it  may 
be  trained,  and  thus  become  an  efficient  instrument 
for  the  service  of  the  soul.  Such  training  of  the 
body  or  any  of  its  organs  as  requires  the  constant, 
conscientious  cooperation  of  the  mind  may,  by 
courtesy,  be  called  education ;  as  instructors  in  gym- 
nasiums all  over  the  country  have  tended  to  adopt 
the  term  "  physical  education  "  rather  than  "  physical 
training"  as  indicative  of  the  higher  ratio  of  mind 
exercise  which  they  hope  to  involve  in  their  work. 
Advocates  of  so-called  manual  training  have,  on  the 
other  hand,  unfortunately  used  the  lower  term.  The 
view  of  the  soul  here  described  does  not  tend  to 
throw  discredit  upon  phases  of  education  such  as 
those  just  mentioned,  but  rather  shows  how  to 
make  them  successful,  and  how  to  gather  about 
them  those  professional  associations  which  will  give 
them  a  more  dignified  place  in  educational  thought 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  21 

and  literature.  Nor  does  this  view  of  the  soul,  tend- 
ing as  it  does  frankly  toward  education  as  a  culture 
process,  belittle  the  utilitarian  side  of  education,  as 
will  be  fully  shown  in  the  chapter  which  treats  of 
ideals  and  motives  as  educational  forces.  What  it 
does  insist  upon  is  that  no  process  is  valid  as  an 
educational  procedure  which  does  not  go  forward 
on  the  theory  that  in  the  mysterious  combination 
making  up  the  human  being  as  we  know  him  in 
this  world,  the  soul  is  master  and  the  body  is  serv- 
ant. We  know  little  of  the  soul  as  an  independent 
existence,  except  through  such  inferences  as  we  are 
justified  in  drawing  from  the  knowledge  we  gain  of 
it  as  we  find  it  connected  with  the  body.  We  must 
therefore  deal  with  it  in  education  by  fully  recog- 
nizing its  connection  with  the  body,  and  indeed  its 
dependence  in  many  ways  upon  the  body  for  its 
own  continued  existence  in  this  world. 

These  conditions  justify  all  efforts  that  have  been 
made  in  recent  years  to  find  out  the  facts  and 
methods  of  the  relationship  between  body  and  mind, 
which  has  interested  psychologists  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  study;  but  they  hardly  justify  the  rash 
utterances  of  students,  who,  impatient  of  results, 
have  indulged  in  speculations  of  a  materialistic  na- 
ture. The  author  feels  that  the  investigations  now 
being  carried  on  carefully,  industriously,  and  con- 
scientiously in  psychological  laboratories  in  various 


22  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

parts  of  the  world  are  likely  in  the  end  to  give  us 
a  reliable  body  of  truth  that  shall  greatly  illumi- 
nate the  educational  process;  but  that  as  yet  the 
definite  conclusions  reached  are  much  too  meager 
to  allow  the  building  upon  them  of  any  elaborate 
educational  structures.  Such  studies  have  already 
had  large  results  for  good  in  the  deeper  sympathy 
for  childhood  induced  by  them,  and  in  the  relief 
given  to  abnormal  children.  The  author  looks  to 
see  in  the  near  future  much  additional  light  from 
the  same  source. 

It  does  not  seem  likely,  however,  that  any  dis- 
covery will  be  made  that  shall  change  our  present 
estimate  of  the  nature  of  the  soul  itself,  although 
we  may  gain  greatly  in  understanding  the  relation- 
ship of  the  soul  and  the  body.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  we  shall  learn  much  more  than  we  know  now 
about  how  to  treat  the  body  in  the  interests  of  the 
soul,  especially  how  to  treat  the  nervous  system, 
which  is  so  intimately  associated  with  the  soul's 
actions.  But,  after  all,  it  is  the  soul's  own  action 
which  must  be  roused  and  directed  if  true  education 
is  to  proceed.  So  we  must  always,  in  our  methods 
of  teaching,  respect  the  soul  as  a  self-active,  respon- 
sible entity,  however  much  we  may  learn  about 
better  ways  of  using  the  body  in  its  interest. 

There  seems  one  more  psychological  truth  need- 
ing explanation  before  we  are  fully  ready  to  open 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  23 

the  treatment  of  our  main  theme,  and  this  is  the 
simple  truth  (with  large  implications)  that  each  soul 
is  a  one  thing,  —  a  unity,  an  essence,  spiritual  in 
its  nature,  and  thereby  absolutely  indivisible.  The 
soul  does  not  even  have  parts,  as  that  term  is  usually 
applied  to  material  things.  The  soul  has  three  great 
capacities,  namely,  the  capacities  of  thinking,  feeling, 
and  willing ;  but  the  thing,  the  something,  the  spirit- 
ual unit  which  possesses  these  capacities  and  uses 
them,  is  strictly  an  indivisible  unit.  Remaining 
always  a  one  thing,  this  one  thing  is  developed  and 
made  greater  and  more  worthy  or  powerful  through 
the  proper  exercise  of  these  capacities;  and  the 
process  by  which  such  increase  of  power  or  worthi- 
ness is  gained  is  properly  termed  education,  whether 
attained  in  school  or  in  other  disciplines  of  life. 
Thus  education  is  never  a  static  something  already 
finished,  but  always  a  process,  a  becoming,  a  move- 
ment toward  a  far-away  ideal.  This  book,  however, 
treats  chiefly  of  the  process  as  carried  forward  in 
the  school  and  as  limited  to  the  young. 

This  simple  conception  of  the  essential  unity,  or 
oneness  of  the  soul,  endowed  with  definite  capacities, 
throws  such  illumination  upon  otherwise  obscure 
matters  in  education  that  it  seems  worth  while  to 
illustrate  it  a  little.  Thus  we  say  that  the  soul  is  a 
one  thing,  endowed,  for  instance,  with  the  power  to 
think;  and  that  while  it  is  thus  endowed  with  the 


24  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

power  to  think,  it  is  also  endowed  with  the  power 
to  feel,  and  that  it  may  at  will  exercise  either  or 
both  of  these  capacities  or  powers;  and  that  while 
endowed  with  these  powers,  it  is  also  endowed  with 
the  power  to  choose  among  a  number  of  attributes, 
which  may  be  under  consideration  by  the  soul 
through  its  power  of  knowing  and  feeling ;  and  that 
the  exercise  of  one  or  all  of  these  powers  at  once 
does  not  cause  any  multiplicity  of  essence,  but  only 
a  complexity  of  activities.  Examples  of  just  such  a 
situation  are  common  in  everyday  life  and  cause  no 
difficulty  or  comment  there.  A  single  illustration 
will  be  sufficient.  The  various  small  organizations 
by  which  social  and  political  affairs  are  administered, 
require  for  their  effectiveness  certain  officials,  who 
are  usually  selected  by  the  membership  of  the  special 
organizations  themselves.  The  most  common  officers 
are  president,  secretary,  and  treasurer;  and  vice 
president,  sergeant  at  arms,  and  others  are  some- 
times added.  Custom  has  assigned  quite  definite 
duties  to  these  officers,  so  that  if  nothing  be  cited 
in  constitution  or  by-laws  in  reference  to  their  duties 
in  any  case,  the  officers  know  with  sufficient  accu- 
racy what  is  required  of  each.  In  smaller  organiza- 
tions it  is  not  unusual  to  choose  the  same  person  as 
secretary  and  as  treasurer  of  the  body,  when  he  is 
usually  styled  secretary-treasurer.  Here  is  one  per- 
son —  an  undivided  unity — exercising  two  functions, 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  25 

that  of  secretary  and  that  of  treasurer,  without  pro- 
ducing any  lack  of  unity  in  himself  as  a  person  by 
such  complexity  of  performance.  And  were  still 
other  functions  given  him,  requiring  still  other 
activities,  these  would  not  affect  the  unity  of  his 
personality,  not  even  if  the  numerous  duties  inter- 
fered somewhat  with  one  another. 

He  would  still  be  one  person  everlastingly  in- 
divisible. So  the  human  soul,  exercising  in  complex 
profusion  its  three  great  capacities  in  numerous 
acts  more  or  less  varied,  is  still  in  itself  one  and 
indivisible. 

It  is  not  safe  to  press  a  metaphor  too  far,  but  the 
illustration  used  above  has  one  more  happy  adap- 
tation to  the  case  in  hand.  As  secretary-treasurer 
the  man's  duties  might  be  performed  successively 
or  even  at  the  same  time.  As  treasurer  he  is  charged 
with  the  safe-keeping  of  all  moneys  belonging  to  the 
organization.  While  he  is  thus  holding  securely  in 
bank  or  elsewhere  this  money  for  which  he  is  respon- 
sible by  bond  or  otherwise,  he  may  as  secretary  con- 
duct the  correspondence  of  the  organization  without 
in  any  way  lessening  his  reliability  as  treasurer.  At 
another  time,  however,  while  conducting  this  corre- 
spondence under  pressure,  some  one  might  be  urg- 
ing him  for  a  check  which  he  could  give  only  in  his 
capacity  as  treasurer.  He  could  perform  but  one 
duty  at  a  time,  and  one  or  the  other  would  have  to 


26  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

await  the  completion  of  that  which  had  already  been 
begun.  So  duties  and  functions  might  interfere  with 
one  another.  It  is  even  to  be  conceived  that  with 
the  growth  of  his  official  correspondence  his  value 
as  treasurer  might  be  reduced,  or  vice  versa.  It  is 
also  conceivable  that  these  duties  might  reenforce 
one  another,  —  that  the  knowledge  gained  in  con- 
ducting one  office  might  render  the  person  more 
efficient  in  the  other.  So  certain  definite  possibilities 
lie  in  the  combination  of  the  coexisting  duties  and 
activities  of  this  one  man,  —  these  duties  now  con- 
flicting, now  reenforcing  one  another,  and  now  flow- 
ing peacefully  side  by  side,  without  at  any  time 
affecting  the  personal  unity  of  the  official. 

Singularly  close  analogous  conditions  exist  with 
reference  to  the  soul  and  its  complex  capacities  and 
activities.  The  soul,  though  in  itself  one,  is  endowed 
by  its  very  nature  with  three  great  capacities,  —  the 
power  to  think,  to  feel,  and  to  will  (or  choose).  It  is 
doubtful  if  the  soul  ever  ceases  to  act  in  every  one 
of  these  ways  after  such  action  has  once  been 
consciously  roused.  These  coexisting  activities,  like 
the  duties  of  the  secretary-treasurer,  may  conflict 
with  or  reenforce  one  another;  or  they  may  peace- 
fully proceed  side  by  side  without  influencing  one 
another  at  all.  Each  person,  by  reference  to  his 
own  case,  can  verify  these  statements.  There  are 
experiences  in  which  strong  feeling  precludes  clear 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  27 

thinking;  in  other  cases  a  happy  flow  of  feeling 
seems  to  be  the  thing  needed  to  make  thinking  easy 
and  effective.  All  will  recognize  the  fact  that  strong 
conviction  and  intensity  of  feeling  are  precisely  what 
stimulate  and  control  choice;  yet  there  are  times 
when  a  peaceful  serenity,  indicating  an  absence  of 
conflicting  activities  of  the  soul,  is  essential  to  wise 
judgment. 

But  our  figure  will  bear  one  more  application. 
We  have  seen  that  the  secretary-treasurer  is  essen- 
tially one  person,  though  transacting  different  and 
differing  duties.  We  have  also  seen  that  these  duties 
may  conflict  with  one  another,  may  assist  one  an- 
other, or  may  coexist  without  noticeably  affecting 
one  another.  But  whenever  this  person  transacted 
any  one  of  these  duties  it  was  the  whole  person  who 
did  it,  though  his  power  to  do  this  thing  well  might 
have  been  reduced  by  his  other  duties  or  responsi- 
bilities. His  power  to  do  any  one  of  his  duties  might 
at  any  time  have  been  augmented  or  decreased  by  his 
other  duties,  but  his  personality  as  a  unity  was  never 
in  any  way  affected  thereby.  In  every  act  that  he 
performed  it  was  his  whole  self  that  did  it,  though 
sometimes  with  diminished  capability.  So  it  is  with 
the  soul  and  its  activities.  These  activities  coexist, 
often  influencing  one  another  as  to  character  or  de- 
gree ;  but  each  one  of  these  is  the  action  of  the 
whole  soul,  —  of  an  individual  unity. 


28  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Psychologists  have  doubtless  always  been  aware  of 
this  great  truth,  but  have  not  always  been  careful  to 
imply  it  in  their  language.  By  using  the  terms  "  in- 
tellect," "sensibility,"  and  "will  "so  frequently  they 
have  implied  a  threefold  division  of  the  soul,  each 
part  having  definite  functions.  The  illustration  given 
above  shows  how  the  three  great  classes  of  activity 
of  soul  coexist  as  activities  of  the  one  indivisible 
soul,  —  each  as  much  a  product  of  this  soul  unity  as 
if  no  other  had  been  existing  at  the  same  time. 
What  the  psychologists  really  mean  is  perhaps  made 
clear  by  saying  that  "  intellect "  is  not  a  part  of  the 
soul,  but  "the  whole  soul  predominantly  engaged 
in  thinking";  "sensibility,"  not  a  part  of  the  soul, 
capable  only  of  feeling,  but  "  the  whole  soul  pre- 
dominantly engaged  in  feeling  "  ;  "  will,"  not  some 
part  of  the  soul  capable  of  choosing,  but  "  the  whole 
soul  engaged  predominantly  in  choosing."  These 
are  rather  words  of  emphasis,  and  are  always  to  be 
so  interpreted,  never  for  a  moment  allowing  the  idea 
of  the  eternally  indivisible  unity  of  the  soul  to  be 
clouded.  The  same  holds  true  of  all  the  long  list 
of  terms  which  represent  what  psychologists  have 
sometimes  called  "  faculties."  In  each  case  we  merely 
mean  to  emphasize  the  predominant  state  of  the  soul 
as  relating  to  knowledge  or  feeling  or  choice. 

A  single  additional  phase  of  this  matter  will  com- 
plete our  preliminary  survey  of  the  field  and  open 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  29 

the  way  fully  for  our  future  discussion.  We  have 
seen  that  the  soul  carries  on  three  great  lines  of 
activity  all  the  time,  and  that  some  one  of  these  is 
usually  relatively  high  in  degree  as  compared  with 
the  others.  We  have  in  a  general  way  indicated  the 
differences  in  the  character  of  these  classes  of  ac- 
tivities by  showing  that  one  class  relates  itself  chiefly 
and  directly  to  the  gaining  of  knowledge  in  some 
form;  a  second  relates  itself  to  what  is  popularly 
known  as  feeling  or  emotion;  and  the  third  has  to 
do  with  our  choices.  These  activities  are  ultimate 
things  in  their  realm,  experienced  by  all  but  not 
easily  defined  by  any.  Indeed  it  is  impossible  to 
define  these  finalities,  since  there  is  nothing  like  any 
one  of  them  with  which  we  may  class  it  for  identifi- 
cation and  formal  definition.  But  we  may  distin- 
guish them  in  such  vague  ways  as  have  already  been 
pointed  out,  and  we  may  refer  each  person  to  his 
own  consciousness  for  more  exact  observations. 

This  reference  to  each  person's  consciousness 
ought  to  reveal  to  each  another  fact,  of  great  signif- 
icance in  the  development  of  character  as  a  result 
of  education.  This  further  fact  is  that  there  is  no 
absolute  line  of  demarcation  or  difference  among 
these  activities,  or  between  any  two  of  them.  Out- 
side of  mathematics  nature  seems  to  abhor  perfect 
classifications.  Each  act  of  the  soul  may  be  pre- 
dominantly one  or  another  of  these  three, — thinking, 


30  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

feeling,  or  choosing, — but  not  wholly  so ;  it  is  always 
tinged  with  one  or  more  of  the  others.  Our  descrip- 
tions of  states  of  the  soul  as  states  of  thought  or  of 
feeling  or  of  willing  are  merely  expressions  describ- 
ing a  predominance  of  one  or  the  other  of  these 
states.  The  soul  is  never  engaged  in  pure  thinking, 
untinged  by  feeling,  or  vice  versa;  but  each  act  of 
the  soul  is  some  happy  blending  of  two  or  more 
of  them,  —  perhaps  of  all  three  in  even  the  simplest 
process.  We  move  this  way  or  that  in  our  per- 
sonal experiences,  now  moving  toward  absorption  in 
thought,  now  toward  feeling,  or  now  deciding  our 
course  in  a  great  crisis  of  life;  but  some  blending 
of  all  three  varieties  will  be  found  in  each  act.  Our 
moods  are  but  variations  of  the  degrees  of  the  three, 
no  one  ever  being  entirely  omitted.  Thus  we  begin 
to  see  that  experiences  which  at  first  seemed  differ- 
ences blend  into  a  unity,  all  the  richer  by  reason 
of  the  resulting  complexity.  The  great  end  of  edu- 
cation is  well-nigh  reached  when  control  and  right 
direction  of  these  blending  activities  shall  have  been 
acquired  by  the  soul,  so  that  it  shall  pursue  its  course 
measurably  free  from  the  control  of  heredity  and  en- 
vironment. And  the  glory  of  the  teacher  is  that  he 
is  permitted,  during  this  minority  of  the  child,  to 
suggest  standards  and  supply  motives  till  such  time 
as  the  immature  person  shall  have  become  mature ; 
the  weak,  strong ;  the  ignorant,  intelligent ;  and  the 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  31 

irresponsible,  moral;  so  that  he  can  thereafter  take 
the  rudder  in  his  own  hand  and  direct  safely  his 
own  course  in  life.  It  is  thus  the  teacher's  business 
to  make  himself  no  longer  necessary  to  his  pupil. 

Under  the  guidance  of  such  doctrine  as  the 
foregoing,  the  four  succeeding  chapters,  making  up 
the  body  of  this  book,  have  been  written.  It  is  in 
the  light  which  these  principles  may  throw  over  the 
pages  that  these  chapters  are  to  be  interpreted. 
The  intention  has  been  to  take  up  mainly  the 
cultural  side  of  education,  as  has  already  been  in- 
dicated in  the  Point  of  View.  The  theme  unfolds 
itself  therefore  along  that  line,  and  while  the  dis- 
cussion is  liberal  in  tone  it  is  necessarily  narrow 
in  range. 

The  line  of  thought  followed,  naturally  divides 
itself  into  four  remaining  chapters : 

1.  Self -activity. 

2.  Self-revelation. 

3.  Self-direction. 

4.  Self-realization. 

Each  of  these  terms  is  interpreted  liberally.  The 
chapter  on  Self-activity  discusses  this  principle  as 
conditioning  all  educational  processes  and  directing 
their  methods.  Self-activity  is  seen  to  be  the  primal 
essence  of  the  soul,  out  of  which  all  progression 
toward  excellence  is  possible.  The  other  three 
terms  express  the  higher  and  higher  stages  of  the 


32  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

self-active  spirit,  as  bud,  flower,  and  fruit  express 
the  higher  and  higher  stages  in  the  annual  life 
cycle  of  a  plant.  There  is  then  no  possible  abrupt 
termination  of  the  one  or  the  beginning  of  another, 
but  a  gradual  transition  from  the  predominance  of 
one  to  the  enlarging  power  of  another. 

The  chapter  on  Self-revelation  treats  of  the  rev- 
elation of  the  soul  to  itself,  through  the  use  it 
makes  of  the  knowledge  which  by  its  self-activity 
it  has  acquired.  That  on  Self-direction  treats  of  the 
correlation  of  previous  experiences  into  ideals  and 
motives,  placing  the  directive  power  of  a  person's 
life  within  his  own  soul,  thus  making  him  a  moral 
and  responsible  person  and  member  of  his  com- 
munity. The  chapter  on  Self-realization  discusses 
the  processes  by  which  the  truly  educated  person 
becomes  the  highest  type  of  being  of  which 
humanity  is  capable. 


CHAPTER  II 
SELF-ACTIVITY 

The  human  soul  is  a  spiritual  entity  whose 
essence  is  self-activity.  Out  of  this  primal  attribute 
all  the  other  elements  of  human  character  develop 
as  self-activity  seeks  to  realize  itself  in  human  free- 
dom. Without  this  self-activity  —  the  power  of 
initiative,  the  power  to  begin  action  without  com- 
pulsion from  another  —  the  human  soul  would  not 
be  responsible  for  its  own  actions.  In  such  case 
there  could  be  no  moral  element  in  human  action, 
and  the  cultivation  of  character  through  education 
would  be  impossible.  It  is  important  therefore  to 
make  clear  the  nature  of  self -activity,  as  a  necessary 
condition  for  the  discussion  of  all  methods  for  the 
development  of  character,  whether  in  the  school  or 
elsewhere. 

In  the  treatment  of  an  idea  so  fundamental  as 
self-activity  it  is  impossible  to  present  its  full  mean- 
ing by  mere  definition.  One  must  rather  take  the 
method  of  suggestion,  in  which  partial  definition, 
appeal  to  experience,  and  statement  of  fact  mingle 
in  such  way  as  to  arouse  and  direct  the  thinking 
power  of  the  learner  until  he  thinks  out  for  himself 

33 


34  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  idea  thus  suggested  and  identifies  it  with  his 
own  experience. 

In  fact  the  very  nature  of  self-activity  makes  the 
appeal  to  experience  its  strongest  proof.  He  who 
finds  himself  exercising  self-activity  in  some  em- 
phatic way  on  some  notable  occasion  is  better  able 
to  recognize  descriptions  or  definitions  of  it;  and 
he  alone  who  has  had  such  experience  really  be- 
lieves in  self-activity  as  an  actual  attribute  of  him- 
self. Henceforward  no  sophistry  can  shake  his 
belief  in  his  own  power  of  initiative,  nor  can  it 
relieve  him  from  that  sense  of  responsibility  which 
always  accompanies  the  recognition  of  one's  self- 
activity.  It  is  essential  to  moral  culture  that  the 
feeling  of  responsibility  shall  be  naturally  developed 
as  our  self-activity  gradually  makes  itself  clear  in 
our  experience  and  conclusive  to  our  reason.  Mod- 
ern school  methods  have  sometimes  failed  to  reach 
this  important  end  in  moral  culture  of  the  young, 
from  a  mistaken  notion  that  learning  should  be 
made  interesting  at  all  hazards.  The  idea  that  chil- 
dren must  always  be  entertained  has  often  led  to 
practices  especially  enervating  to  the  will,  which  is 
merely  another  name  for  self-activity. 

So  soon  as  a  person  has  developed  a  feeling  of 
responsibility  through  the  experience  of  his  own 
initiative,  it  is  possible  to  teach  him  a  sense  of 
worthiness,  as  a  result  of  meeting  fairly  and  properly 


SELF-ACTIVITY  35 

the  responsibilities  of  life.  This  sense  of  worthiness 
as  a  result  of  right  action  is  the  noblest  and  most 
powerful  motive  that  can  be  made  to  appeal  to  a 
human  being.  It  cannot  come  to  any  one  till  he  has 
experienced  his  personal  freedom,  so  far  as  choice  of 
his  own  course  of  action  is  concerned.  This  sense 
of  worthiness,  connected  with  right  action,  is  the 
correlative  of  remorse,  as  related  to  wrong  action. 

Neither  a  sense  of  worth  nor  one  of  remorse  can 
appeal  to  any  person  till  he  has  had  his  sense  of 
right  and  wrong  somewhat  developed,  and  this  can- 
not be  done  with  an  individual  till  he  appreciates 
to  some  extent  his  own  power  of  initiative  in  action, 
and  therefore  his  share  of  responsibility  for  the  con- 
sequences of  his  action.  Although  all  these  appre- 
ciations develop  in  a  sense  together,  yet  there  is  a 
logical  sequence  which  is  absolutely  controlling, 
however  small  the  portion  of  time  intervening  in 
any  case. 

The  supreme  importance  of  a  right  understand- 
ing of  the  doctrine  of  self-activity  is  sufficient 
reason  for  an  extended  treatment  of  the  theme 
before  presenting  those  other  and  more  obvious 
elements  of  character  culture  which  so  completely 
depend  upon  the  facts  of  personal  initiative.  The 
subject  is  made  more  complicated  by  the  fact  that 
in  the  human  being  the  soul  (or  spirit)  is  connected 
with  the  material  body.  At  birth  the  human  being 


36  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

is  an  embodied  soul  (or  spirit),  that  is,  a  soul  which 
has  begun  to  build  for  itself  a  body.  This  body  it 
inhabits  and  uses,  or  soon  learns  to  use,  as  a 
medium  of  contact  with  the  material  world.  Impor- 
tant relationships  come  to  exist  between  the  soul 
and  the  body,  which  thus  together  constitute  the 
human  being.  Neither  is  a  constituent  of  the  other, 
nor  do  the  two  follow  the  same  laws  of  develop- 
ment. Nevertheless  there  are  important  analogies 
developed  as  the  double  life  proceeds,  and  we  shall 
need  to  take  account  of  the  reciprocal  influences 
which  from  time  to  time  make  themselves  em- 
phatically felt. 

It  is  especially  to  be  noted  that  it  is  only  after  an 
understanding  of  the  elementary  stages  of  mind 
development,  dependent  on  the  senses,  that  one  is 
in  condition  to  appreciate  fully  the  higher  stages 
of  human  culture,  in  which  the  moral  tendency  of 
human  action  is  so  controlling  and  significant.  The 
reader  will  therefore  be  the  more  patient  during  the 
following  discussion  of  certain  relationships  of  body 
and  soul,  which  at  first  seem  far  away  from  our 
theme,  but  which  in  the  end  will  be  seen  to  have 
furnished  the  key  to  a  right  appreciation  of  what 
might  else  have  remained  obscure. 

The  self-activity  of  a  human  infant  needs  to  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  some  limited  forms  of 
self-activity,  as,  for  instance,  that  found  in  plants. 


SELF-ACTIVITY  37 

Indeed,  we  may  come  to  see  its  true  nature  better  if 
for  a  moment  we  compare  and  contrast  it  with  the 
life  principle  in  a  seed.  Every  fully  ripened  seed 
which  has  not  been  subjected  to  unnatural  condi- 
tions has  this  life  principle  existing  in  its  germ. 
Whenever  the  appropriate  conditions  are  supplied, 
such  as  air,  soil,  warmth,  and  moisture,  the  life  prin- 
ciple in  the  germ  of  the  seed  has  the  power  to  begin 
a  process  of  cell  building  by  which  it  embodies  itself 
in  a  new  plant.  At  first  this  power  is  only  sufficient 
to  build  cells  out  of  prepared  material  placed  in  the 
seed  surrounding  the  germ  by  the  preceding  plant. 
But  a  little  later,  after  a  few  new  cells  at  one  end 
of  the  germ  have  been  formed  into  a  little  root, 
and  a  few  cells  at  the  other  end  of  the  same  germ 
have  been  formed  into  a  little  stem  with  tiny  leaves, 
the  self-active  power,  originally  in  the  germ  of  the 
seed,  but  now  embodied  in  the  growing  plant,  ac- 
quires the  power  to  go  outside  the  seed  and  seize 
upon  the  molecules  of  matter  in  air,  soil,  and  mois- 
ture, destroy  the  chemical  combinations  in  which  it 
finds  them,  select  such  as  serve  its  uses,  and  build 
these  molecules  into  plant  cells,  which  it  distri- 
butes within  its  growing  structure  according  to  its 
type  or  kind.  The  growing  plant  has  thus  begun 
to  conquer  its  environment  and  to  take  from  it 
such  portions  as  it  can  best  use  for  its  own  life 
development 


38  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

In  this  beautiful  process  of  growth  it  is  important 
for  present  purposes  to  note  especially  two  or  three 
points :  (i)  the  life  principle  in  the  seed  has  the  power 
to  begin  this  process  of  growth  when  the  appropriate 
conditions  are  supplied ;  (2)  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  growing  plant  thus  developed,  this  life 
principle  or  self-activity  acquires  the  power  to  con- 
quer its  environment  and  to  make  it  serve  its  own 
uses ;  and  (3)  this  power  exhausts  itself  in  providing 
for  its  own  reincarnation  in  the  seed  again.  The 
whole  life  history  of  self-activity  as  exemplified  in 
plant  life  is  included  in  the  cycle  from  seed  to  seed 
again,  although  some  plants  repeat  this  cycle  through 
many  years. 

There  is  an  almost  completely  analogous  proce- 
dure in  the  case  of  a  human  being.  The  self-activity 
of  the  infant,  through  its  developing  body,  acquires 
the  power  to  take  possession  of  its  physical  environ- 
ment in  a  process  of  growth,  building  the  animal 
cells  thus  produced  into  the  structure  of  its  body. 

This  analogy  of  procedure  in  the  two  cases  is  very 
striking,  resulting  in  each  instance  in  a  closed  cycle 
when  the  self-active  power  is  insured  its  reembodi- 
ment  in  appropriate  form.  Here,  however,  the  analogy 
ends  and  the  contrasts  begin.  The  contrasts  are 
numerous  and  important. 

i.  The  self-active  principle  of  the  plant  has  no 
other  uses  which  it  can  make  of  the  external  world. 


SELF-ACTIVITY  39 

The  self-active  principle  of  the  human  being,  the 
soul,  can  make  spiritual  uses  of  the  material  world 
through  its  distinctive  power  of  knowing,  feeling,  and 
choosing.  These  spiritual  uses  of  the  external  world 
do  not  destroy  the  matter  used,  nor  do  they  neces- 
sarily change  its  physical  conditions  or  relations. 
The  changes  made  are  produced  in  the  soul  itself, 
constituting,  when  properly  carried  out,  a  course  of 
character  development.  This  use  of  the  material 
world  as  a  means  of  soul  development  or  character 
culture  is  made  possible  by  the  use  which  the  spirit 
makes  of  the  body  as  a  means  of  contact  with  matter. 
2.  Another  marked  contrast  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  self-active  principle  in  the  seed  cannot  decline 
to  begin  action  when  appropriate  conditions  are  sup- 
plied, nor  can  it  act  in  any  other  way  than  that 
determined  by  the  conditions  themselves.  If  these 
conditions  be  supplied  to  a  seed  in  which  the  life 
principle  has  been  destroyed  by  unnatural  exposure, 
they  but  hasten  the  decay  of  the  lifeless  seed.  It 
is  therefore  the  self-active  principle  which  begins 
growth  and  secures  mastery  over  matter,  but  it  can 
exercise  this  self-activity  only  in  limited  forms  and 
under  definite  compulsions.  The  human  spirit,  on 
the  contrary,  may,  in  its  spiritual  uses  of  the  world, 
decline  to  act  when  the  conditions  are  supplied,  and 
may  even  act  in  some  way  not  suggested  directly  by 
the  conditions.  It  may  even  be  whimsical  about  it. 


40  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Therefore  it  may  not  be  commanded  nor  entirely 
controlled  by  its  environment.  Indeed,  to  a  consid- 
erable degree  —  an  increasing  degree  as  development 
proceeds  —  it  may  create  its  own  environment  and 
determine  the  conditions  of  its  own  action. 

The  human  being,  then,  is  a  self -active  entity.  It 
is  composed  of  a  spirit  and  a  body,  the  latter  used 
by  the  spirit  as  a  means  of  contact  with  the  material 
world.  I  do  not  know  what  solicitations  may  be 
offered  to  pure  spirit  —  a  spirit  not  supplied  with  a 
body  —  to  begin  an  action  of  thinking,  or  feeling,  or 
choosing;  but  with  human  beings  the  first  solicita- 
tions to  such  action  come  through  the  sense  organs 
of  the  body.  Through  the  eye  bright  colors  and 
pleasing  forms  solicit  the  active  attention  of  the 
spirit  (mind  or  soul)  within ;  and  in  due  season,  and 
of  its  own  volition,  the  soul  responds  to  the  solicita- 
tions and  begins  a  process  which,  as  it  grows  in 
complexity,  results  in  knowledge,  accompanied  ulti- 
mately by  feeling  and  choice.  Through  the  senses  of 
sight,  touch,  taste,  smell,  hearing,  and  perhaps  others, 
the  various  objects  of  the  external  world  make  their 
appeal  to  the  developing  mind.  Whenever  voluntary 
response  is  made  to  these  solicitations,  mind  action 
is  established  and  definite  knowledge  of  the  external 
world  is  obtained,  its  particular  kind  being  deter- 
mined by  the  sense  organ  through  which  the  solici- 
tation is  carried.  In  each  case  the  sense  organ  that 


SELF-ACTIVITY  41 

carries  the  solicitation  furnishes  the  conditions  under 
which  the  mind  can  obtain  a  certain  kind  of  knowl- 
edge. Though  there  are  certain  vicarious  relation- 
ships, no  one  of  them  can  act  as  a  full  substitute  for 
another.  All  the  senses  are  needed  for  that  complete 
knowledge  of  the  external  world  which  seems  so 
necessary  to  physical  existence  and  so  helpful  as  a 
basis  for  moral  development.  How  all  this  occurs  as 
a  purely  natural  process  of  development  is  the  inter- 
esting theme  of  the  next  few  pages. 

It  is  to  the  physiological  psychologists  that  we  are 
indebted  for  these  discussions.  Until  within  the  last 
few  years  there  were  no  reliable  data  in  regard  to  the 
physical  functions  which  condition  all  knowledge  of 
the  external  world.  Now,  however,  thanks  to  those 
who  have  worked  so  patiently  and  effectively  in  the 
thoroughly  equipped  psychological  laboratories  of 
the  great  universities,  the  chief  physiological  facts 
are  definitely  determined,  and  the  psychologist  has 
only  to  interpret  them  by  showing  the  way  in  which 
the  soul  uses  the  magnificent  mechanism  furnished 
it  in  the  nervous  system  of  the  human  body. 

A  brief  description  of  the  nervous  system  in  its 
simplest  elements  seems  necessary  here  as  a  basis 
for  the  explanation  of  the  knowing  process  as  we 
must  come  to  understand  it  in  order  to  appreciate 
its  fundamental  relations  to  character  growth.  Only 
such  portions  of  the  nervous  system  will  be  mentioned 


42  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

as  are  requisite  to  an  understanding  of  the  process 
of  acquiring  knowledge,  leaving  out  all  confusing 
details.  Should  the  reader  desire  fuller  discussion  of 
these  physiological  conditions,  they  are  now  happily 
described  in  numerous  volumes  devoted  to  this  phase 
of  our  subject.  These  details  are  not  essential  to  the 
understanding  of  general  mental  processes,  but  only 
to  the  comprehension  of  numerous  minute  variations 
of  mental  action  which  are  not  now  under  considera- 
tion. They  may  therefore  be  left  for  the  student  who 
is  especially  interested  in  such  things,  since  they  do 
not  greatly  influence  the  mental  processes  with  which 
the  teacher  deals  in  ordinary  problems  of  education. 
So  far  as  each  sense  organ  offers  a  condition  for 
mental  action  in  a  human  being,  its  chief  element  is 
a  nerve  fiber  or  a  collection  of  nerve  fibers.  The 
usefulness  of  the  nerve  fiber  for  this  purpose  con- 
sists in  its  capability  of  receiving  and  carrying  what 
is  known  as  a  nervous  impulse.  Its  outer  extremity 
is  influenced  peculiarly  by  some  physical  force, — 
light,  pressure,  taste,  odor,  sound,  temperature,  or 
some  other  force.  The  molecular  impulse  thus  im- 
parted to  the  nerve  extremity  is  carried  to  the  inner 
extremity  of  the  nerve  fiber,  —  the  brain  or  some 
similar  ganglion  of  nervous  matter.  The  nervous 
impulse  or  molecular  motion  which  thus  travels  from 
outer  nerve  tip  to  inner  extremity  within  the  brain 
sets  up  a  molecular  disturbance  in  the  gray  matter 


SELF-ACTIVITY  43 

of  the  brain  tissue.  Such  disturbance  repeated  many 
times  renders  such  gray  matter  more  and  more  sus- 
ceptible to  being  thus  influenced,  that  is,  it  organizes 
the  gray  matter  into  a  better  and  better  receiving 
organ  for  such  nervous  impulses. 

When  such  molecular  disturbance  has  grown 
strong  by  repetition,  it  has  power  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  soul.  The  soul  is  not  compelled  to 
give  its  attention.  It  may  be  engaged  in  some  other 
employment  which  it  prefers,  and  from  which  it 
refuses  to  be  drawn  away  by  any  ordinary  solicitation. 
In  the  very  early  life  of  the  child,  however,  —  at  the 
dawning  of  mental  action,  —  the  attention  is  usually 
soon  attracted  to  some  of  these  disturbances  of  gray 
matter  brought  about  by  nervous  impulses  from  the 
Various  sense  organs.  Those  caused  by  light  and 
carried  through  the  optic  nerve  seem  to  be  most 
powerfully  attractive ;  at  least,  so  far  as  observers 
have  reported,  attention  is  first  noticed  in  connection 
with  the  sense  of  sight.  Nervous  impulses  originated 
by  moving  or  brightly  colored  objects  seem  to  make 
the  strongest  appeal. 

The  response  of  the  soul  in  these  cases  is  vague 
at  first.  It  grows  stronger,  more  definite,  and  effec- 
tive only  after  numerous  repetitions.  When  the 
attraction  is  so  strong  that  the  soul  gives  its  atten- 
tion, the  result  is  an  awareness  by  the  soul  of  this 
molecular  disturbance  in  the  gray  matter  of  the 


44  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

brain.  This  awareness  is  what  the  later  psycholo- 
gists call  sensation.  It  is  probably  a  blending  of 
knowledge  and  feeling,  the  latter  predominating.  Its 
precise  nature  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  or,  at  best, 
of  reason,  since  none  of  us  can  remember  our  own 
experiences  of  this  kind;  indeed,  the  first  ones,  in 
all  probability,  are  too  vague  to  form  any  basis  of 
memory.  The  nature  of  these  earliest  mental  proc- 
esses is,  however,  fairly  well  inferred  from  a  study  of 
our  later  mental  actions  through  our  own  conscious- 
ness. The  process  by  which  attention  is  solicited 
through  other  sense  organs  is  substantially  like  that 
described  in  connection  with  sight.  The  awareness 
in  each  case  varies  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
nervous  impulse  carried. 

All  the  physical  apparatus  for  the  production  of 
sensation  as  described  above  is  supplied  to  the 
child,  ready  for  use,  as  soon  as  he  enters  the  world. 
He  is  equipped  at  birth  with  the  sense  organs 
adapted  to  gather  the  physical  influences  which  are 
to  affect  the  outer  extremity  of  the  nerve  fiber 
resident  in  any  particular  sense  organ.  The  nerve 
fiber  itself  is  already  organized  to  carry  the  in- 
fluence received  by  its  own  molecular  action  to  its 
inner  extremity  in  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain, 
or,  in  some  cases,  to  another  mass  of  nervous 
matter.  The  gray  matter  of  the  brain  has  already 
been  made  susceptible  to  this  nervous  influence, 


SELF-ACTIVITY  45 

so  that  a  peculiar  molecular  disturbance  is  set  up 
within  it  by  the  transmission  to  it  of  the  nervous 
impulse  carried  by  the  afferent  (inbearing)  nerve. 
This  "  organized  "  condition  of  the  afferent  nerve 
is  well  known  to  physiologists  through  experiment. 
There  are  also  some  evidences  of  a  like  organi- 
zation of  nerve  fibers  extending  from  the  same  gray 
matter  of  the  brain  outward  to  certain  organs  of 
motion,  such  as  the  hands,  lower  limbs,  etc.  This 
organization  makes  these  nerve  fibers  susceptible 
of  being  affected  by  the  molecular  action  of  the 
gray  matter  of  the  brain,  as  set  up  there  by  the 
nervous  impulse  brought  to  it  by  the  afferent  nerve 
from  the  sense  organ,  or  by  the  direct  will  of  the 
person.  Thus  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain,  through 
its  molecular  action,  sets  up  a  resulting  action  in 
certain  efferent  (outbearing)  nerves,  whose  outer 
extremities  lie  in  certain  muscles.  This  outgoing 
nervous  impulse  causes  certain  molecular  disturb- 
ances in  muscles,  known  as  contraction  and  relaxa- 
tion. In  this  way  motion  of  the  whole  organ  is 
brought  about  automatically  by  successive  trans- 
ferences or  transmissions  of  nervous  impulse  from 
a  sense  organ  along  the  afferent  nerve,  through  a 
brain  center,  or  other  nervous  matter,  and  along  an 
efferent  nerve  to  the  muscles  which  move  a  particular 
part  of  the  body.  These  actions  are  at  first  entirely 
automatic.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  automatic 


46  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

actions  of  the  baby  are  the  purposeless  movements 
of  hands  and  feet,  though  there  are  many  others. 
Many  of  these  actions  are  noticed  before  there  is 
any  evidence  of  the  awareness  which  constitutes 
sensation ;  though  no  doubt  the  conditions  for  both 
automatic  action  and  sensation  begin  substantially 
at  the  same  time.  The  former  are  immediate  phys- 
ical responses  without  intervention  of  mind  action, 
while  the  latter  must  wait  the  voluntary  notice  of  a 
mind,  however  immature. 

There  is  a  peculiar  reason  why  this  organization 
of  nervous  matter,  fitting  it  to  carry  nervous  im- 
pulse, should  be  available  at  birth  for  the  production 
of  motion  in  many  bodily  organs,  for  the  preser- 
vation of  health,  and  for  the  establishment  of  right 
conditions  of  growth ;  and  this  automatic  power 
extends  to  all  organs  in  some  degree.  But  in  refer- 
ence to  the  movement  of  the  hands,  for  which  the 
organization  is  quite  perfect,  there  is  another  and 
weightier  reason,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to 
speak  of  the  beginnings  of  purposive  actions  of 
the  child.  The  hand  becomes  the  most  significant 
educational  equipment  of  the  developing  mind. 
Through  it  is  begun  the  process  of  soul  growth 
resulting  in  other  forms  of  expression,  even  of  oral 
and  written  speech.  This  insight,  when  explained, 
will  give  a  new  and  deeper  significance  to  the  sub- 
ject of  manual  training,  especially  in  the  lower  grades. 


SELF-ACTIVITY  47 

We  have  now  seen  that  the  child  has  at  birth 
a  complete  physical  apparatus  for  supplying  all 
the  conditions  for  sensation,  and  that  soon  after 
birth  he  gives  voluntarily  sufficient  attention  to 
the  molecular  action  set  up  in  the  brain  to  secure 
for  himself  sensations,  —  vague,  it  is  true,  at  first, 
but  real  sensations  so  far  as  their  nature  is  con- 
cerned. While  these  sensations  are  vague  and  few 
the  child  does  not  have  any  perceptions.  By  this  is 
meant  that  the  sensations  as  yet  have  no  meaning 
to  him.  They  must  be  interpreted  or  understood. 
When  this  takes  place  it  will  be  an  intellectual  act, 
which  will  result  in  knowledge.  This  interpretative 
act  begins  as  vaguely  and  proceeds  as  slowly  as  did 
the  act  of  sensation,  becoming,  through  much  repe- 
tition under  slightly  varying  circumstances,  more 
and  more  definite.  As  the  molecular  action  solic- 
ited attention,  resulting  in  sensation,  these  sensa- 
tions, when  they  become  vivid  and  numerous,  solicit 
further  attention  resulting  in  perception,  namely, 
the  discovery  of  the  meaning  of  these  sensations. 
This  meaning  takes  the  form  of  the  percepts  of  sight, 
sound,  taste,  touch,  smell,  temperature,  form,  etc. 

Very  exact  observations  of  infancy  have  been 
made  and  verified,  showing  the  stages  of  progress 
in  growth  and  sensations  within  a  short  time  after 
birth,  and  through  the  early  months  and  years 
of  life.  It  is  not  necessary  for  our  purpose  here 


48  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

to  trace  this  progression  in  detail.  We  do  need  to 
notice  that  it  is  essentially  a  voluntary  action  on 
the  part  of  the  learner,  —  the  exerting  of  a  perfectly 
natural  function,  made  possible  in  its  early  stages 
by  the  happy  adaptation  of  the  spirit  to  the  mate- 
rial world  through  the  nervous  organization  of  the 
body,  whereby  the  external  world  is  able  to  make 
its  insistent  appeal  to  the  spirit  within. 

Were  it  not  for  the  self-active  nature  of  the  mind 
(or  soul),  the  appeal  would  be  in  vain.  It  is  this 
ever-present  power  to  initiate  its  own  activities  that 
distinguishes  the  soul  so  completely  from  physical 
organisms,  which  must  depend  upon  compulsion  or 
propulsion  for  all  their  movements. 

We  are  now  to  see  still  more  wonderful  proof  of 
the  self-active  character  of  the  soul  than  has  yet 
been  shown.  This  will  appear  as  soon  as  we  begin 
to  study  those  phases  of  the  soul's  action  which 
introduce  purpose  as  a  distinctly  volitional  activity. 
For  the  complete  explanation  of  this  phase  of 
self-activity  we  must  again  go  to  the  experiments 
of  the  physiological  psychologists. 

It  has  already  been  explained  that  the  child 
comes  into  the  world  with  a  ready-made  physical 
apparatus  for  receiving  external  stimuli  through 
sense  organs,  and  for  carrying  the  nervous  impulse 
thus  generated  to  internal  masses  of  nervous  matter, 
either  the  brain  itself  or  some  organ  which  acts  in 


SELF-ACTIVITY  49 

conjunction  with  the  brain  or  instead  of  it,  as  the 
spinal  cord  or  the  nervous  masses  of  the  ganglia  of 
the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  These  matters  are 
common  facts  of  physiological  knowledge  and  do 
not  need  elaboration  here.  It  has  been  noticed  also 
that  the  child  is  born  with  a  less  well-developed  ap- 
paratus for  carrying  the  nervous  impulses  through 
a  brain  center  outward  to  muscles,  forming  the  basis 
for  rudimentary,  spasmodic,  unintentional  action. 

This  preparation  for  unintentional  or  automatic 
action  is  complete  enough  at  birth  to  be  the  con- 
dition for  inaugurating  and  continuing  the  life  of 
the  child  in  the  new  environment,  through  such 
stimuli  as  come  to  him  by  means  of  the  sense 
organs,  or  from  chemical  and  physical  changes 
which  arise  within  the  body  itself,  especially  in  the 
blood.  Many  of  these  chemical  changes  are  taking 
place  at  the  time  of  birth,  and  where  they  continue 
as  purely  chemical  or  physical  changes  they  are 
independent  as  yet  of  any  volition  of  the  child 
himself.  All  the  processes  of  circulation,  diges- 
tion, nutrition,  and  the  like  are  thus  made  sure  to 
the  child  by  prepared  apparatus  and  by  forces  or 
stimuli  furnished  by  the  outside  world  or  by  inter- 
nal physical  and  chemical  changes  begun  before 
birth  and  continued  automatically  after  birth  by 
their  own  inertia  or  by  new  stimulation  from  the 
external  world.  There  are  as  yet  no  phenomena  of 


50  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

self-activity ;  there  is  no  mind  action  or  soul  action, 
—  merely  reflex  action.  Much  of  this  action  is 
necessary  to  the  continuance  of  life,  —  physical  life, 
if  there  be  such  a  thing  separate  from  the  life  of  the 
soul.  But  to  the  teacher  there  is  a  deeper  signifi- 
cance here  than  has  yet  been  suggested.  Nature 
seems  to  have  taken  care,  through  heredity,  for  the 
preservation  and  continuance  of  what  may  be  called 
the  vegetative  or  purely  animal  life  of  the  child. 
Has  it  also  prepared  the  way  for  the  child's  soul  to 
get  possession  of  this  physiological  apparatus  for 
spiritual  uses,  —  for  its  own  development?  The 
answer  to  this  question  will  be  clearly  seen  after  a 
slight  discussion  of  the  organization  of  nervous  mat- 
ter, showing  how  it  is  serviceable  as  an  instrument. 
A  nerve  fiber  is  not  quite  so  simple  a  thing  as 
the  descriptions  in  previous  pages  would  indicate. 
Only  such  descriptions  were  given  there  as  were 
necessary  to  the  understanding  of  the  processes 
then  being  considered.  Closer  examination  of  nerv- 
ous matter  shows  a  nerve  fiber  to  be  a  collection 
of  neurones,  or  nerve  cells,  with  prolongations  in 
many  directions  and  of  varying  lengths.  From 
many  of  these  neurones  there  are  further  prolonga- 
tions of  nervous  matter,  filamentous  in  character, 
called  dendrites  by  later  physiological  psychologists. 
A  succession  of  neurones,  with  their  more  or  less 
well-developed  dendrites,  placed  in  a  line  constitute 


SELF-ACTIVITY  51 

a  nerve  fiber,  so  called.  Neurones  in  a  nerve  fiber, 
even  with  well-developed  dendrites,  do  not  quite 
touch  each  other,  being  always  separated  by  in- 
tervening tissue  called  neuroglia,  through  which 
nervous  impulses  must  be  conducted  from  the  par- 
ticular dendrite  concerned  in  one  neurone  to  the 
nearest  dendrite  in  its  successive  neurone  in  the 
fiber.  Since  each  neurone  has  many  dendrites,  reach- 
ing in  various  directions  as  well  as  in  the  main 
direction  of  the  fiber,  there  is  always  danger  at  first 
that  instead  of  a  straightforward  transmission  of  the 
nervous  impulse  along  the  line  of  the  nerve  fiber 
most  nearly  concerned,  there  may  be  diffusion  of 
the  impulse  somewhat  indiscriminately  to  neurones 
in  other  fibers,  leading  to  other  brain  centers  (or 
nervous  centers).  This  diffusion  of  nervous  energy 
is  precisely  what  does  happen  in  the  newborn  child, 
resulting  in  many  seemingly  irrelevant  movements, 
not  directly  related  even  to  the  preservation  and  pro- 
longing of  the  physical  life.  It  will  be  found,  how- 
ever, that  nearly  all  of  them  more  or  less  indirectly 
affect  physical  health,  by  stimulating  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  and  by  increasing  chemical  action  in 
the  blood  and  in  the  tissues. 

Their  greatest  significance,  nevertheless,  is  in 
an  entirely  different  direction,  namely,  as  furnishing 
the  beginning  for  that  course  of  nervous  organiza- 
tion which  the  soul  takes  up  at  this  point  to  render 


52  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  body,  especially  the  nervous  system,  the  marvel- 
ous instrument  which  it  becomes  for  the  expression 
of  the  soul's  activities  of  thinking,  feeling,  and 
choosing ;  and  incidentally  through  such  expression, 
to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  soul's  own  development 
in  its  moral  attitude  toward  the  universe. 

It  has  already  been  seen  that  physical  and  chem- 
ical forces,  operating  before  birth,  through  the  life 
of  the  parent,  have  begun  an  organization  of  some 
portions  of  the  nervous  system.  Thus  at  birth  the 
child  has  a  fairly  well-developed  set  of  afferent 
nerve  fibers  and  the  beginning  of  some  efferent 
nerve  fibers.  Constant  repetition  of  stimuli  has  in- 
creased the  capacity  of  these  nervous  fibers  to 
transmit  nervous  impulse  by  causing  a  growth  of 
dendrites  from  each  neurone  in  many  directions,  but 
mainly  in  the  direction  which  nervous  impulse  has 
oftenest  traveled.  The  neuroglia  intervening  has 
had  its  susceptibility  to  nervous  impulse  greatly  in- 
creased by  constant  transmission  of  such  impulse 
in  definite  directions.  Organization  of  nervous  mat- 
ter has  thus  far  proceeded  by  growth  of  dendrites 
from  neurones  into  and  through  the  neuroglia  to- 
ward other  dendrites  extending  from  neighboring 
neurones,  thus  increasing -the  probability  that  nerv- 
ous impulse  will  be  transmitted  definitely  along 
the  line  thus  created,  rather  than  along  lines  in 
which  the  dendrites  are  shorter  and  the  intervening 


SELF-ACTIVITY  53 

neuroglia  less  sensitive  to  the  language  of  the 
nervous  impulse.  The  whole  process  before  birth 
has  been  under  the  direction  of  the  life  influence 
of  the  parent,  so  that  gradually  the  trend  of  nervous 
transmission  is  set  along  lines  which  will  best  min- 
ister to  the  well-being  of  the  organism.  Neverthe- 
less at  birth  these  lines  of  transmission  are  not  so 
well  settled  but  that  much  seeming  waste  of  nerv- 
ous energy  still  takes  place  through  diffusion. 
The  further  organization  of  the  nervous  system 
must  now  be  delivered  over  to  the  physical  and 
chemical  forces  already  at  work  within  the  system, 
to  the  forces  of  the  external  world  acting  on  the 
sense  organs,  and  to  the  self-activity  of  the  infant 
soul  which  is  even  now  seeking  to  gain  the  mastery 
of  the  body  in  order  to  make  it  serve  spiritual  as 
well  as  physical  interests.  It  is  not  here  meant  that 
the  soul  is  consciously  seeking  thus  to  use  the 
body,  but  only  that  its  very  self-activity  is,  under 
motive  whenever  that  shall  come,  the  reason  for 
asserting  its  supremacy  over  matter  instead  of  sub- 
mitting longer  to  the  direction  and  control  of  outer 
forces.  It  was  seen  in  the  preceding  pages  that  the 
infant  soul  is  fitted  out  at  birth  with  sensory  ap- 
paratus connecting  it  with  the  material  world ;  and 
that  soon  the  young  child  will  begin  to  aid  itself 
in  this  direction  by  gradually  assuming  control  of 
these  physical  organisms  and  processes. 


54  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

It  is  precisely  this  self-activity  of  the  soul  hereto- 
fore described  which  comes  now  to  its  assistance. 
Reasonable  provision  has  been  made  for  the  con- 
tinuance and  improvement  of  the  physical  life,  and 
but  little  for  the  soul  life.  The  reason  is  obvious. 
Physical  conditions  and  forces  cannot  compel  atten- 
tion or  action  from  the  soul.  The  soul's  action 
must  be  self-action,  —  none  other  could  be  soul 
action.  What  these  physical  forces  have  done  is  to 
arrange  an  apparatus  which  will  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  the  soul,  and  which,  becoming  more  highly 
organized  through  soul  action,  may  thus  serve  as 
the  medium  of  expression,  directing  and  correlating 
the  soul's  activities  so  as  to  make  them  adapted  to 
soul  life  in  a  material  world.  And  this  is  precisely 
what  we  find  these  physical  forces  have  done.  A 
partial  organization  of  some  parts  of  the  nervous 
system  has  already  been  accomplished  at  birth. 
These  same  forces  continue  their  work  after  birth, 
no  longer  so  closely  under  the  surveillance  of  the 
parental  influence,  but  ready  for  more  definite  con- 
trol by  the  soul.  Continued  and  insistent  repetition 
of  these  physical  forces,  through  sense  organs,  is 
steadily  making  more  and  more  definite  and  effi- 
cient the  lines  of  transmission  of  nervous  impulse 
through  afferent  nerves,  through  the  various  lower 
nervous  masses,  such  as  the  spinal  cord  and  the 
ganglia  of  the  sympathetic  system,  and  through 


SELF-ACTIVITY  55 

certain  portions  of  the  brain  mass  itself.  More  and 
more  easily  and  definitely  do  these  influences  pass 
through  these  brain  centers  and  out  to  organs  of 
motion. 

As  yet  the  main  mass  of  the  true  brain  has  been 
scarcely  affected  by  these  early  acts  of  organization. 
Being  physical  and  not  mental,  —  not  intelligent,  — 
they  have  pushed  themselves  along  lines  of  least 
resistance  rather  than  along  intelligently  chosen 
paths  of  progress.  But  when  the  soul  begins  its 
work  of  trying  to  know  and  appreciate  the  external 
world  it  intelligently  chooses  the  portion  of  the  brain 
mass  which  it  will  train  to  its  service. 

If  the  student  will  refer  to  the  page  on  which  we 
discussed  the  process  of  reaching  sensation,  and  re- 
fresh his  memory  upon  that  topic,  keeping  in  mind 
this  intervening  discussion  upon  organization  of  nerv- 
ous matter,  he  will  be  in  condition  to  follow  the 
discussion  of  the  process  of  perception  as  based  on 
sensation.  It  will  be  remembered  that  sensation  is 
a  blending  of  knowledge  and  feeling,  an  awareness 
of  molecular  action  in  the  gray  matter  of  a  brain 
center  caused  by  a  nervous  impulse  transmitted 
from  a  sense  organ.  As  sensation  it  has  no  meaning ; 
it  is  not  related  distinctly  to  anything  nor  discrimi- 
nated specially  from  anything ;  it  is  not  at  all  inter- 
preted, nor  is  it  referred  by  the  mind  to  any  cause 
nor  attached  to  any  object,  except  in  the  vague  way 


56  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

indicated  above.  The  moment  that  the  soul,  being 
more  and  more  noticeably  solicited  by  continuous 
and  persistent  repetition  of  the  sensation,  begins  of 
its  own  accord  to  study  the  sensations,  it  is  forming 
or  gaining  a  percept  by  acting  intelligently  upon 
the  sensation. 

There  is  a  logical  order  in  which  these  interpre- 
tative acts  occur,  but  the  time  difference  is  so  slight 
as  to  be  imperceptible.  However,  when  the  series 
is  really  completed  a  percept  is  formed.  The  per- 
cept consists  of  the  tracing  of  the  sensation  back  to 
its  causes  sufficiently  to  identify  the  new  knowledge 
(percept)  as  a  mental  correspondent  to  an  attribute 
of  an  object  which,  through  one  of  the  sense  organs, 
was  able  to  cause  the  sensation.  This  is  the  way  in 
which  we  get  our  percepts,  —  as  nearly  direct  knowl- 
edge as  we  ever  get  of  the  external  world. 

At  first  perceptions  are  vague,  as  sensations  are 
vague  at  first,  and  for  a  similar  reason;  but  there 
is  an  added  difficulty  in  perception,  rendering  first 
perceptions  more  vague  than  first  sensations.  This 
obstacle  is  the  fact  that  the  mind,  in  its  efforts  to 
interpret,  —  to  put  forth  self-active  efforts  to  know, 
—  has  no  organized  nervous  medium  through  which 
to  act.  Brain  cells  are  susceptible  to  mental  action, 
as  influence,  but  are  wholly  unorganized  in  relation 
thereto;  that  is,  they  are  untrained  for  this  serv- 
ice. It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  first  efforts 


SELF-ACTIVITY  57 

of  the  mind  are  more  or  less  diffused  instead  of 
being  focused  directly  upon  the  sensation  till  it  can 
be  understood. 

It  is  now  well  known,  however,  that  all  intellec- 
tual effort  changes  the  organization  of  the  brain 
matter  it  tries  to  use.  Therefore  the  portion  of  the 
brain  which  the  mind  tries  to  use  in  these  first 
efforts  to  interpret  or  know,  gradually  changes  its 
constitution.  Its  neurones  change  shape  and  throw 
out  amceba-like  extensions  in  definite  directions, 
dendrites  grow  out  as  fibrous  extensions  of  the  neu- 
rones, tending  toward  those  growing  out  from  the 
adjacent  neurones,  till  at  length  a  better  medium  of 
communication  has  been  established  for  the  trans- 
mission of  a  new  nervous  force  generated  by  incip- 
ient thought.  And  when  the  channel  of  discharge 
has  been  well  established  and  the  tendency  to  diffu- 
sion has  been  overcome,  efficiency  is  slowly  obtained 
by  concentration  on  the  sensation  studied. 

Through  the  first  months  of  babyhood  and  the 
first  years  of  youth  these  efforts  at  organization  of 
new  areas  of  the  brain  are  taking  place  during  every 
moment  of  waking  life.  As  purposive  effort  grows 
stronger  the  channels  of  connection  grow  more  effi- 
cient and  perceptions  grow  clearer,  the  improvement 
in  each  case  being  infinitesimally  small  as  one  act, 
but  becoming  noticeable  at  the  end  of  millions  of  repe- 
titions. So  the  child  grows  slowly  to  the  knowledge 


58  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

of  the  attributes  or  qualities  of  things.  These  vari- 
ous forms  of  knowledge  are  called  percepts.  His 
gradual  bringing  of  these  attributes  under  the  rela- 
tions of  cause  and  effect,  whole  and  part,  space  and 
time,  and  into  objects  —  that  is,  into  ideas  which 
are  the  counterpart  of  the  objects  from  which  they 
come  —  is  a  slow  and  prolonged  process;  but  it 
does  not  differ  materially  from  that  described  in  the 
formation  of  a  percept.  The  mind  has  gradually 
taken  possession  of  a  portion  of  the  brain,  organ- 
ized it  for  definite  use,  and  made  it  serve  a  pur- 
pose in  the  soul's  advancement.  This  it  has  done 
through  its  primal  attribute  of  self-activity  or  power 
of  initiative. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  self-active  nature 
of  the  mind  and  its  supremacy  over  matter  through 
its  power  of  initiative  are  just  beginning  to  manifest 
themselves.  The  soul  has  even  greater  conquests  to 
make.  There  are  large  areas  of  the  brain  as  yet  but 
slightly  in  use,  and  the  soul  has  large  possibilities 
before  it  in  the  development  of  its  own  powers  of 
thinking,  feeling,  and  choosing.  As  soon  as  the  soul 
begins  to  learn  the  meaning  of  sensations  and  to 
interpret  them  into  percepts,  thus  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  external  world,  it  finds  many  of 
these  objects  serviceable  to  itself  in  various  ways. 
Sights,  sounds,  tastes,  etc.,  gratify  capacities  of  feel- 
ing ;  the  intellectual  exercises  of  interpretation  are  in 


SELF-ACTIVITY  59 

themselves  pleasurable ;  and  an  actual  soul  life,  here- 
tofore unknown,  begins  as  the  human  being  becomes 
for  the  first  time  aware  of  the  self  as  distinguished 
from  the  objects  of  its  study. 

The  next  chapter,  on  Self-revelation,  will  have 
for  its  theme  this  development  of  the  soul  through 
spiritual  uses  of  the  external  world,  —  that  is,  revela- 
tion of  the  soul  to  itself.  Here  it  is  enough  to  see 
clearly  that  the  soul  has  the  beginning  of  the  need 
of  expression.  The  motives  to  companionship  arise 
with  dawning  self-knowledge,  and  companionship 
can  be  based  only  on  some  mode  of  communication. 
Some  method  of  expression  —  some  kind  of  lan- 
guage—  is  needed  to  begin  companionship.  There 
is  much  evidence  to  show  that  the  first  language 
developed  was  a  gesture  language.  We  have  seen 
that  without  the  intervention  of  the  soul,  spasmodic 
action  of  the  limbs  of  a  child,  particularly  of  the 
hands  and  arms,  is  already  arranged  for  through  a 
nervous  system  partially  developed  at  birth.  And 
we  have  also  seen  that  these  spasmodic,  uninten- 
tional actions  readily  take  place  under  the  stimulus 
of  physical,  chemical,  and  physiological  forces.  The 
soul's  initiative  is  noticeable  only  when  some  cor- 
relation of  these  hitherto  purposeless  actions  is 
attempted  in  order  to  accomplish  intended  results. 
The  sensations  of  touch  and  sight,  coinciding  in 
time  and  place,  solicit  strongly  the  attention  of  the 


60  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

soul.  Soon  sight  sensations  alone  suggest  motion 
for  the  purpose  of  supplementing  these  sensations 
with  touch  perceptions,  resulting  in  attempts  to 
direct  or  control  the  motion  of  the  hand.  But  before 
this  new  force  —  soul  initiative  in  the  form  of  resolve 
—  can  do  its  perfect  work  upon  matter  and  thus 
express  itself  through  motion  of  the  hand  (or  other 
organ)  it  must  have  a  medium  of  nervous  matter. 
Portions  of  the  brain  are  already  susceptible  in  a 
degree  to  such  influence,  and,  by  successive  attempts 
of  the  soul  to  express  itself  through  motion,  have 
become  a  trained  instrument  for  the  transfer  of  this 
soul  force,  as  other  parts  of  the  nervous  system  were 
previously  fitted  to  transmit  nervous  force  originated 
in  sense  organs  by  external  or  physical  forces. 

Of  course  this  training  of  the  brain  for  soul  uses 
in  self-expression  is  of  a  finer  kind  than  the  other, 
as  soul  force  in  the  form  of  resolve  is  a  finer  sort  of 
force  than  is  light  or  sound  or  any  other  of  the 
forces  manifesting  themselves  through  the  senses. 
All  forms  of  self-caused  mental  action,  such  as  feel- 
ing or  thought  or  resolve  (volition),  are  veritable 
soul  forces,  capable  of  causing  motion  in  nervous 
matter,  such  as  the  brain.  The  word  "  causing "  is 
used  here  for  lack  of  a  better  word ;  it  need  raise  no 
philosophical  discussion  which  its  use  philosophically 
might  inaugurate.  The  nervous  impulse  thus  origi- 
nated by  mental  action  is  transferable  to  muscle 


SELF-ACTIVITY  6 1 

quite  as  readily  as  are  the  nervous  forces  caused 
from  external  stimuli.  But  this  new  kind  of  nervous 
influence  is  directive  in  character,  not  merely  spas- 
modic or  automatic ;  therefore,  as  soon  as  it  is  trans- 
mitted to  muscle  the  tendency  is  toward  regulated 
or  correlated  action,  since  the  stimulus  has  in  it  the 
elements  of  purpose  and  accomplishment.  Thus  all 
further  organization  of  the  brain  coming  from  men- 
tal action  will  always  tend  to  make  such  brain 
matter  a  better  and  better  instrument  for  the  trans- 
mission of  purpose  or  volition  to  all  muscles  that 
need  to  work  together  toward  the  accomplishment 
of  an  end.  And  when  such  purpose  is  self-expres- 
sion through  motion,  the  very  muscles  required  for 
such  motion  are  all  animated  by  the  same  stimulus 
coming  from  the  mind  itself.  Under  such  stimulus 
the  muscles  work  together,  and  the  result  is  regu- 
lated or  correlated  action.  For  the  first  weeks, 
months,  and  years  of  the  child's  life  the  soul  is 
engaged  in  thus  training  certain  parts  of  the  brain 
to  become  its  instrument  for  the  transmission  of  its 
mandates  to  muscles  everywhere  in  the  body,  till 
gradually  not  only  are  new  motions,  previously  un- 
known to  the  infant,  inaugurated,  but  those  caused 
by  external  forces  are  brought  under  control.  Soon, 
then,  the  body  is  dominated  by  the  soul  through  its 
control  of  the  muscular  system,  gained  by  the  use 
of  the  brain  which  it  has  trained  for  its  instrument. 


62  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

This  training  is  most  clearly  manifest  in  those 
motions  which  are  made  for  the  purpose  of  self- 
expression,  namely,  by  the  hands,  organs  of  speech, 
etc.  Indeed,  the  soul  takes  such  complete  control 
of  the  body  in  this  respect  that  the  latter  is  but  the 
instrument  for  the  constant  expression  of  the  states 
of  the  former.  This  is  accomplished  most  perfectly 
in  gesture  and  in  written  and  spoken  language. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  problems  in  physio- 
logical psychology  lie  in  this  field,  —  the  mastery 
by  the  soul  of  the  organs  of  speech  for  purposes 
of  complete  self-expression.  Physiological  psycholo- 
gists have  been  greatly  helped  in  many  cases  by 
intelligent  physicians  who  have  been  able,  by  the 
study  of  conditions  of  the  brain  resulting  from 
accident,  to  give  the  true  explanation  of  phenomena 
whose  causes  could  not  have  been  reached  through 
the  ordinary  experiments  of  the  psychological  lab- 
oratory. In  fact,  much  of  the  higher  organization 
of  the  brain,  under  direct  control  of  the  soul  for 
purposeful  uses,  is  so  delicate  in  its  character  as  to 
elude  even  the  microscope.  Many  of  the  actual 
changes  brought  about  in  the  brain  cannot  be  seen, 
and  can  only  be  inferred  from  other  phenomena 
which  have  been  established  as  facts  beyond  doubt. 

Many  physiological  psychologists  refuse  to  be- 
lieve in  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  entity,  pre- 
ferring to  consider  the  soul  as  an  aggregation  of 


SELF-ACTIVITY  63 

mental  phenomena  caused  by  physical  forces  acting 
through  the  nervous  matter  of  the  body.  In  its 
baldest  phases  physiological  psychology  would  deny 
self-activity  in  all  its  forms,  deny  any  power  of  spir- 
itual initiative,  and  thus  destroy  all  sense  of  respon- 
sibility in  the  soul  for  its  own  action,  overthrow- 
ing at  one  fell  swoop  all  basis  for  moral  philosophy 
and  any  recognition  of  worthiness  or  unworthiness 
in  human  living.  In  this  extreme  it  is  sheer  fatalism ; 
but  fortunately  for  human  progress,  and  especially 
for  educational  philosophy,  the  latest  investigations 
in  physiology  itself  do  not  support  this  view.  There 
is  now  abundant  evidence,  growing  out  of  the  study 
of  the  brain,  to  show  that  some  of  the  finest  organ- 
izations that  take  place  therein  cannot  be  pro- 
duced by  physical  forces,  but  must  proceed  from 
some  other  source.  There  being  certain  effects 
clearly  found  which  cannot,  by  the  nature  of  the 
case,  be  produced  by  physical  causes,  some  other 
cause  must  be  supposed,  or  human  thought  upon 
the  matter  must  come  to  a  stop.  The  latter  is  what 
has  happened  with  the  better  class  of  physiological 
psychologists.  They  have  traced  out  certain  de- 
velopments of  the  nervous  system  and  certain  phys- 
iological results  in  the  human  body.  They  have 
also  noticed  certain  concomitant  developments  of 
mentality  going  hand  in  hand  with  these  physiolog- 
ical changes.  They  have  not  dared  in  later  years  to 


64  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

say  that  the  latter  cause  the  former.  Neither  will 
they  admit  that  the  former  cause  the  latter.  They 
prefer  to  say  they  do  not  yet  know  their  causes; 
but  they  leave  one  with  the  impression  that  some 
day  the  discovery  will  be  made  that  physiological 
forces  actually  cause  mental  action.  They  thus 
endeavor  to  account  for  mental  action  without  con- 
fessing belief  in  the  existence  of  any  subject  ex- 
pressing this  mentality.  It  will  be  noticed  in  this 
case  that  they  do  not  really  decline  to  make  a  sup- 
position, but  merely  prefer  a  physical  theory  to  a 
spiritual  one. 

Psychologists  who  believe  in  the  soul  as  an  en- 
tity, capable,  through  its  own  initiative,  of  gaining 
control  of  the  body  for  its  instrument,  do  so  be- 
cause of  two  reasons:  (i)  consciousness  reveals 
(indirectly)  such  a  being,  the  subject  of  one's  own 
experiences,  continuous  in  its  identity  through  these 
experiences;  and  (2)  this  is  the  only  theory  which 
fully  accounts  for  such  soul  action  as  is  evidenced 
by  even  physiological  psychology.  Since  this  theory 
of  the  existence  of  a  self-active  soul  fully  and  per- 
fectly accounts  for  all  mental  and  psychophysical 
facts,  and  accords  perfectly  with  consciousness,  it 
is  entitled  to  full  credence  until  overthrown  by 
wider  knowledge  which  may  better  explain  the 
facts  referred  to  above.  It  is  believed  by  the  writer 
that  no  such  better  explanation  is  possible,  and  that 


SELF-ACTIVITY  65 

fuller  knowledge  will  but  more  and  more  clearly 
prove  not  only  the  existence  of  the  soul  as  an  entity 
but  its  self-active  nature  as  well. 

It  seems  to  the  writer  that  physiological  psychol- 
ogists have  been  prone  to  state  physical  conditions 
of  mental  action,  and  call  them  causes  of  the  same. 
Physiological  conditions  invite  or  solicit  mental 
action,  but  have  no  power  to  command  or  cause  it. 
The  mind  can  take  advantage  of  these  conditions 
if  it  chooses,  as  it  usually  does.  It  can  also  neglect 
or  decline  to  take  advantage  of  them  as  opportuni- 
ties of  mental  action,  and  can  perform  mental  actions 
of  quite  a  different  kind  from  those  thus  invited.  In 
this  it  proves  its  existence  as  an  entity,  and  also  its 
own  control  of  itself,  by  an  initiative  not  originated 
in  the  physical  organism  but  resident  in  its  own 
nature.  All  education  worthy  of  the  name  is  based 
on  this  self-active  nature  of  the  mind.  All  moral 
distinctions  rest  here.  All  character  development 
has  its  mainspring  here.  All  claim  to  kinship  to  the 
divine  by  the  human  rests  on  this  characteristic. 

One  more  phase  of  this  question  seems  to  need 
explanation  before  we  pass  to  the  corollaries  or 
inferences  as  to  educational  doctrine  and  practice 
which  are  deducible  from  this  discussion.  It  will 
conduce  to  clearness,  perhaps,  to  state  first  the 
series  of  facts  involved,  and  afterward  to  give  in 
condensed  form  the  proofs  for  the  position  taken. 


66  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  soul,  of  its 
own  volition,  soon  after  birth  begins  the  examina- 
tion of  its  surroundings,  using  its  physical  organism, 
especially  the  nervous  system,  as  its  instrument. 
Its  first  attention  to  molecular  action  in  nervous 
matter  of  sense  organs  gives  it  sensations.  Further 
activity  results  in  perception. 

The  soul,  however,  is  far  from  satisfied.  It  pro- 
ceeds more  or  less  purposefully  at  first,  but  with 
deeper  intent  as  it  goes  on,  to  discover  the  mean- 
ings of  these  things  by  seeking  out  their  relation- 
ships of  cause  and  effect,  of  whole  and  part,  their 
similarities  and  unlikenesses,  and  hundreds  of  other 
relationships,  —  all  of  which  constitute  their  signifi- 
cance for  the  soul,  their  spiritual  meaning,  their 
possibilities  of  service  or  hindrance  to  its  develop- 
ment. In  the  progress  of  these  mental  activities  the 
soul  goes  through  a  process  of  self-revelation;  it 
finds  out  its  own  capacity  for  pleasure  and  pain,  its 
possibilities  of  being  influenced  by  motives  of  in- 
finite variety,  and  is  seized  by  a  powerful  desire  to 
communicate  all  this  to  other  souls  whom  it  finds 
in  similar  mental  states  with  similar  relations  to  the 
world  of  matter  through  similar  nervous  mechan- 
isms. The  first  successful  expression  is  doubtless 
through  gesture,  using  this  word  in  a  broad  applica- 
tion. The  hand  and  the  face  play  a  large  part  in 
this  early  communication  from  one  soul  to  another 


SELF-ACTIVITY  67 

of  those  mental  states  which  press  for  utterance. 
But  the  crowning  activity  is  reached  when  speech 
is  invented,  —  as  it  always  is  by  souls  but  never  by 
animals.  For  this  high  function  the  soul  chooses 
certain  parts  of  the  brain  and  trains  them,  organiz- 
ing them  for  this  purpose.  Scientists  know  the 
exact  portion  of  the  brain  which  is  used  by  the  soul 
in  interpreting  the  meaning  of  sensations,  percepts, 
and  things ;  and  likewise  the  portion  specially  used 
in  oral  speech,  or  in  written  language,  or  in  any 
other  form  of  self-expression. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  while  both  lobes  of  the 
brain  are  used  in  most  elementary  actions,  espe- 
cially those  caused  automatically  by  physical  forces 
acting  through  the  senses,  such  is  not  the  case  in 
the  higher  mental  processes  and  in  the  actions  re- 
sulting from  the  nervous  forces  excited  by  them. 
In  these  higher  mental  processes  only  one  lobe  is 
used,  —  generally  the  one  corresponding  to  the 
most-used  hand  or  the  first-used  hand  in  childhood. 
In  accordance  with  the  well-known  physiological 
fact  of  the  crossing  of  the  nerve  fibers  leading  to 
the  brain,  this  will,  in  each  case,  be  the  left  lobe  for 
the  right-handed  person  and  the  right  lobe  for  the 
left-handed  person.  This  is  the  more  easily  ac- 
counted for  if  we  remember  that  the  first  pur- 
poseful motion  of  the  child  is  that  of  the  hand. 
The  first  reactive  force  arising  from  soul  resolution 


68  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

passes  back  to  the  brain  through  the  hand,  and 
thus  begins  that  training  of  the  connected  lobe  for 
further  usefulness.  When  the  soul  has  active  need 
of  expression  and  finds  that  other  muscles  must  be 
affected  for  this  purpose,  what  can  be  fitter  than 
that  it  should  use  that  portion  of  the  brain  which 
has  already  received  some  training  for  expression. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  resolutions  of  the  soul  for 
expression  are  sent  to  the  necessary  muscles  for  the 
kind  of  expression  decided  upon,  by  means  of  the 
lobe  used  first  for  expression  by  the  hand.  Different 
portions  of  this  lobe,  however,  are  devoted  to  slightly 
different  modes  of  expression,  such  as  oral  expres- 
sion, written  expression,  etc. 

How  all  this  has  come  to  be  known  is  an  interest- 
ing story.  Not  all  the  psychologists  in  the  world, 
of  all  varieties,  working  together,  would  ever  have 
accomplished  the  wonder.  But  the  trained  surgeon, 
called  to  the  consideration  of  pathological  conditions 
of  the  brain  in  connection  with  accidents  or  with 
nervous  diseases,  has  been  able  at  last  to  get  at  the 
facts  which  render  these  conclusions  certain.  At 
first  it  was  chiefly  post-mortem  examinations  that 
gave  certain  clues;  but  later  the  study  of  living 
persons  has  enabled  us  to  get  at  conclusions  more 
suggestive  because  drawn  from  the  living  subject. 

Numerous  cases  have  recently  been  found  where 
individuals  have  continued  to  live  after  certain 


SELF-ACTIVITY  69 

accidents  to  the  brain  have  occurred.  In  some  cases 
the  breaking  down,  through  disease,  of  brain  tissue  in 
certain  localities  has  been  followed  by  definite  men- 
tal disturbances,  tending  to  substantiate  the  conclu- 
sions above  stated.  Sometimes  a  clot  of  blood  forms 
in  a  particular  spot  in  the  brain,  rendering  that 
portion  of  the  brain  useless,  temporarily  or  perma- 
nently, as  an  instrument  of  the  mind.  A  clot  of 
blood  in  the  oral-speech  region  has  been  known  to 
make  a  child  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age  unable  to 
speak  a  single  word.  His  mental  or  soul  condition 
remained  practically  the  same,  but  one  means  of 
expressing  that  condition  had  been  cut  off.  He 
could  write  his  mental  state,  —  his  knowledge  or  his 
wishes, — but  he  could  not  speak  it.  H is  difficulty  was 
not  of  the  soul,  but  in  the  instrument.  In  the  case 
of  this  particular  child,  however,  by  slowly  training 
the  same  region  of  the  other  lobe  of  the  brain,  he 
gradually  learned  to  speak  as  well  as  before.  He 
had  been  delayed  a  little  in  training  a  new  instru- 
ment, but  in  no  definite  way  had  his  mental  state 
been  otherwise  disturbed.  Other  cases  have  been 
known  where  the  power  to  interpret  has  been  lost 
by  a  clot  of  blood  upon  a  definite  portion  of  the 
brain  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  soul  in  its  think- 
ing. In  the  young  this  power  is  slowly  regained  by 
the  training  of  the  corresponding  part  of  the  other 
lobe. 


70  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

In  all  cases  of  mature  persons  these  accidents  are 
irreparable,  the  brain  substance  having  grown  be- 
yond its  susceptible  stage.  Hundreds  of  these  cases, 
illustrating  every  phase  of  mental  action  referred  to 
in  these  pages,  are  recorded  in  medical  works  and 
books  treating  of  some  phase  of  physiology  or  psy- 
chology. They  all  point  to  one  definite  conclusion, 
—  that  the  nervous  system  in  man  is  the  immediate 
instrument  of  the  soul  in  its  self-development  in  an 
environment  of  matter.  That  these  definite  higher  or- 
ganizations of  selected  portions  of  the  brain  could  not 
have  been  brought  about  by  physical  forces  is  plainly 
shown  by  the  fact  that  both  lobes  of  the  brain  are 
alike  open  to  all  physical  forces ;  and  as  these  forces 
are  unintelligent,  they  could  in  no  way  have  selected 
one,  but  would  have  organized  both.  An  intelligent 
something  selected  the  part  best  fitted  in  each  case 
to  serve  the  purpose  intended.  This  choosing  or 
selecting  can  be  done  only  by  an  entity  which  pos- 
sesses initiative  as  well  as  intelligence.  These  latest 
discoveries  in  physiological  science  give  no  encour- 
agement to  the  materialist.  They  all  point  to  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man,  his  body  being  the  neces- 
sary means  of  the  soul's  advancement  while  it  lives 
in  a  world  of  matter. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  not  especially  con- 
cerned here  with  any  particular  theory  of  the  origin 
of  the  soul,  nor  is  he  desirous  of  discussing  needlessly 


SELF-ACTIVITY  71 

the  relation  of  the  soul  and  the  body.  He  is  trying 
rather  to  state  such  conclusions  upon  these  and 
other  disputed  points  in  psychology  as  seem  sup- 
ported by  reason  and  reputable  authority,  espe- 
cially so  far  as  these  matters  are  relevant  to  a  correct 
theory  and  the  successful  practice  of  education.  In 
most  cases  the  appeal  has  been  made  to  concurrent 
testimony  of  many  eminent  scholars  and  special- 
ists. This  is  more  particularly  true  in  reference  to 
the  physical  nature  of  the  human  being,  for  here 
the  facts,  so  soon  as  discovered,  are  susceptible  of 
direct  proof.  In  these  cases  it  is  mostly  a  matter  of 
well-equipped  laboratories  and  skillful  and  patient 
observers;  but  on  the  mental  or  spiritual  side  of 
the  subject  there  is  less  opportunity  to  present 
matters  to  the  senses  for  proof,  or  to  exhibit  conclu- 
sive evidence  to  persons  unaccustomed  to  deal  with 
the  facts  of  the  mental  or  spiritual  life  in  their 
habitual  thinking.  In  such  cases  it  has  been  the 
author's  design  to  appeal  to  the  consciousness  and 
the  reason  of  the  reader.  The  attempt,  then,  is  so 
to  state  the  facts  of  mental  life  as  to  rouse  in  the 
reader's  mind  an  appreciation  which  makes  him  feel 
that  he  has  himself  had  similar  experiences,  or  so 
to  state  the  facts  as  to  elicit  from  the  reader  the 
comment, "  This  seems  reasonable."  When  both  con- 
sciousness and  reason  can  be  made  to  bear  upon 
the  same  point,  the  proof  seems  doubly  strong. 


72  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Up  to  this  point  the  claim  to  self-activity  as 
the  primal  characteristic  of  the  soul,  and  therefore 
the  most  important  element  of  the  mental  life,  —  the 
very  corner  stone  of  moral  responsibility,  —  has  been 
supported  by  evidence  furnished  almost  exclusively 
by  physiological  psychologists.  Step  by  step  they 
have  proved  in  their  laboratories  this  intimate  rela- 
tionship between  the  physical  and  chemical  forces 
of  the  world  and  the  nervous  tissues  of  the  body. 
Little  by  little  they  have  discovered  the  way  in 
which  these  physical  forces  have  organized  the  nerv- 
ous system  so  that  it  will  convey  the  nervous  im- 
pulses, which  these  physical  forces  have  produced 
in  the  nervous  tissue,  through  neurone  and  dendrite 
to  the  brain.  They  have  shown  that  these  nervous 
impulses,  or  the  molecular  disturbances  in  the  brain 
which  they  produce,  are  the  conditions  under  which 
sensations  and  perceptions  take  place,  although  they 
have  not  dared  to  go  so  far  as  to  call  either  of  these 
activities  a  physical process.  Having  admitted  them 
to  be  mental  in  their  nature,  they  still  try  to  explain 
them,  however,  by  physical  causes ;  or,  if  they  admit 
the  existence  of  mind,  they  sometimes  try  to  con- 
vince themselves  that  mind  is  nothing  but  the  sum 
of  these  physically  caused  mental  phenomena,  and 
not  in  any  case  a  thing  in  itself  or  an  entity.  A 
sufficient  answer  to  this  line  of  materialistic  reason- 
ing is  the  simple  statement,  verified  at  once  by  any 


SELF-ACTIVITY  73 

honest  student  out  of  his  own  experience,  that  our 
mental  life  proceeds  precisely  as  if  it  were  the  re- 
sult of  intentional,  purposeful  planning  and  execut- 
ing by  an  entity  or  thing  whose  capacities  might 
be  determined  by  examining  the  nature  of  the  phe- 
nomena themselves.  The  conclusion  is,  that  what- 
ever acts  like  an  entity  (or  thing)  is  probably  one. 
However,  therefore,  the  soul  originates  or  however 
it  is  constituted,  the  process  of  education  must  take 
it  as  it  finds  it,  and  proceed  to  educate  it  toward  the 
highest  and  noblest  results  which  its  nature  permits. 
When  we  find  the  mental  life  to  consist  of  activities 
appropriate  to  a  self-active  spiritual  being,  we  may 
well  conclude  that  we  have  to  do  in  education  with 
just  such  a  being. 

The  proof  of  this  self-active  nature  of  mind  is 
within  the  consciousness  of  each  one  who,  having 
reached  the  age  of  discretion,  has  examined  carefully 
the  working  of  his  own  mind.  Each  of  us  has  found 
himself  deciding  courses  of  action  for  himself,  know- 
ing all  the  time  full  well  that  he  could  have  chosen 
differently  if  he  had  cared  to  do  so. 

This  seems  an  appropriate  place  to  refer  to  a 
curious  line  of  argument  sometimes  offered  by  those 
who  do  not  believe  that  the  mind  has  any  power 
of  self-action  (self-activity),  any  actual  power  of  in- 
itiative, any  freedom  of  will.  The  argument  is  a 
specious  one,  though  its  fallacy  is  easily  detected  by 


74  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

an  acute  thinker,  even  if  he  is  not  a  trained  logician. 
The  argument  referred  to  is  that  the  mind  is  in  no 
sense  free,  because  its  every  act  is  controlled  by 
necessity  of  some  kind ;  that  what  is  commonly  called 
choice  is  merely  giving  way  to  the  strongest  motive. 
If  the  mind  must  follow  the  strongest  motive,  it  is 
under  force  or  necessity  to  do  so,  and  cannot  be 
free  to  choose. 

The  fallacy  lies  in  the  unwarranted  meanings  put 
into  certain  words.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  very 
essence  of  motive  is  an  appreciation  of  value,  —  a 
felt  value.  The  highest  motive  then  is  the  highest 
felt  value,  and  this  depends  entirely  on  the  mind's 
own  action  in  appreciating  worth  or  value.  The 
very  essence  of  freedom,  or  initiative,  is  to  be  able 
to  appreciate  so  deeply  certain  values  that  desire  of 
attainment  will  cause  choice  and  consequent  action. 
To  say  that  the  mind  is  compelled  or  forced  or 
necessitated  thus  to  choose,  is  to  misuse  these 
words,  that  is,  to  change  their  meaning  during  the 
argument. 

The  real  fact  is  that  the  mind  is  so  constituted 
that  it  naturally  perceives  distinctions  of  value  and 
naturally  and  voluntarily  chooses  highest  values, — 
not  because  it  must,  pushed  by  an  outside  force, 
but  because  it  is  urged  by  its  own  nature  or  con- 
stitution to  choose  the  highest  good.  This  kind 
of  compulsion  is  of  the  very  nature  of  freedom, — 


SELF-ACTIVITY  75 

precisely  what  we  mean  by  the  power  of  initiative, 
and  exactly  what  is  meant  in  the  best  use  of  the  word 
"self-activity."  The  mind  is  free  or  self-active  be- 
cause it  can  and  does  respond  to  motives.  Education 
can  change  its  sense  of  values,  thus  changing  the 
power  with  which  different  things  appeal  to  it  as 
motives,  and  in  this  way  it  can  eventually  change 
the  course  of  conduct.  By  a  continuation  of  this 
process  character  is  produced  and  established.  The 
great  possibility  of  education  rests  on  this  nature 
of  mind,  that  it  is  compelled  by  its  own  nature  and 
not  by  an  outside  force  to  choose  in  accordance 
with  the  strongest  motive.  The  compulsion  of  a 
motive  is  a  leading  and  not  a  driving  force.  Since 
the  mind  yields  to  the  stronger  motive,  and  since 
the  mind  itself  makes  all  its  motives  and  determines 
which  is  the  stronger  motive,  the  mind  does  it  all, 
and  is  therefore  free  at  every  step.  It  is  of  the 
nature  of  spirit  or  mind  to  be  thus  free.  Hence 
every  compulsion  of  the  mind's  own  making  is  but 
further  evidence  of  the  mind's  natural  and  inborn 
freedom. 

The  argument  just  referred  to  against  the  exist- 
ence of  actual  self-activity  (that  is,  innate  freedom 
to  choose  one's  course  of  action)  is  of  the  same  kind 
as  the  argument  we  often  hear  against  the  same 
condition  in  the  case  of  Deity  himself.  It  is  thus 
said  that  since  by  his  very  nature  God  is  self-active, 


76  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

then  he  is  compelled  to  be  self-active,  and  being  com- 
pelled to  be  self-active,  he  is  not  free  to  be  self-active. 
Using  other  words,  the  argument  would  be  stated 
thus :  God  is  free  by  his  very  nature ;  he  is  therefore 
compelled  by  his  very  nature  to  be  free.  Therefore 
since  he  is  compelled  to  be  free  he  is  not  really  free. 
Of  course  one  easily  sees  the  fallacy  in  this  logic; 
the  meaning  put  into  some  of  the  words  varies  in 
the  different  propositions,  —  a  fatal  defect  in  any 
reasoning  process. 

The  same  argument  might  be  thus  stated  with 
reference  to  the  human  soul.  It  is  the  nature  of  the 
spirit  to  be  free.  The  soul  is  spiritual  by  its  nature 
and  is  therefore  compelled  to  be  free ;  hence,  being 
compelled  to  be  free,  it  is  under  compulsion  and 
cannot  be  really  free.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  most 
sane  people  that  their  common  sense  leads  them 
easily  to  see  the  fallacy  in  such  argument.  But  a 
few  who  delight  in  verbal  gymnastics  have  in  all 
ages  preferred  to  believe  the  conclusion  reached  in 
this  way. 

In  referring  in  previous  pages  to  the  evidence  of 
the  consciousness  that  each  one  has  of  his  own  essen- 
tial freedom,  the  intention  has  not  been  to  assert  the 
unqualified  truthfulness  of  all  reports  given  in  con- 
sciousness. There  is  need  of  the  same  care  and 
scrutiny  here  as  is  needed  elsewhere  to  discern  the 
false  from  the  true;  but  it  may  well  be  asserted 


SELF-ACTIVITY  77 

that  when  due  tests  have  been  applied  to  the  reports 
of  consciousness,  the  final  result  is  nearer  to  absolute 
truth  than  any  other  knowledge  attainable  by  human 
means.  Even  all  the  knowledge  which  the  scientist 
reports  so  dogmatically  with  reference  to  the  spiritual 
world  must  be  reported  through  consciousness  before 
it  becomes  knowledge.  Some  materialistic  scientists 
have  so  far  been  misled  by  their  prejudices  as  to 
assert  that  knowledge  of  the  external  world  is  more 
reliable  than  knowledge  of  the  mental  world  as  re- 
ported to  each  one  in  his  own  consciousness,  over- 
looking the  fact  that  in  both  cases  we  have  only  the 
report  of  consciousness  as  the  final  proof. 

If,  therefore,  all  the  evidences  of  self-activity  were 
lost,  each  one  of  us  could,  if  his  attention  were  suffi- 
ciently called  to  it,  trust  his  consciousness  as  to  his 
own  essential  freedom.  So  fully  will  he  trust  his 
consciousness  in  the  matter  that  he  will  continue 
to  plan  what  he  intends  to  do  and  apply  means  to 
accomplish  his  own  plans,  thus  proving  practically 
that  he  believes  in  his  own  sufficiency  to  plan  action 
and  carry  it  out  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  own 
ends.  Furthermore,  he  acknowledges  that  he  is  re- 
sponsible by  his  very  feeling  of  worthiness  when  he 
has  accomplished  worthy  things,  and  by  his  feeling 
of  remorse  when  he  has  done  wrong.  Thus  does 
the  practical  action  of  each  person  overthrow  the 
neatly  planned  sophistry  of  the  professional  logician. 


78  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Consciousness  gives  still  further  evidence  of  this 
universal  sense  of  freedom  of  initiative,  in  that  every 
one  knows  directly,  through  consciousness,  that  after 
he  has  chosen  a  course  of  conduct  in  accordance  with 
the  stronger  motive  he  may  be  challenged  or  dared 
by  another  person  to  change  his  course  of  action. 
He  knows  full  well  that  it  rests  with  himself  whether 
or  not  he  will  consider  this  dare  or  challenge  to  con- 
tain a  stronger  motive  than  the  one  governing  his 
original  decision ;  and  he  knows  also  that,  if  he  likes, 
he  may  change  his  course  to  coincide  with  the  chal- 
lenge. Thus  he  knows  himself  to  be  free  even  to  the 
extent  of  power  to  be  whimsical  if  he  so  chooses. 

It  is  to  be  carefully  noted  that  what  is  meant  here 
by  choosing  a  course  of  action  does  not  imply  also 
the  carrying  out,  in  physical  ways,  of  the  action 
chosen.  There  may  be  physical  reasons  why  this  is 
impossible,  but  this  fact  does  not  affect  in  any  way 
the  mental  act  of  deciding.  It  is  this  mental  state, 
and  not  its  outside  accomplishment,  that  chiefly 
affects  moral  responsibility  and  determines  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  the  moral  condition  of  a  person. 
This  power  we  have  here  been  describing  —  the 
power  of  free  mental  choice  —  is  of  supreme  impor- 
tance in  the  education  of  the  future  citizen  and  man, 
since  he  is  thus  to  be  shown  that  it  is  entirely  pos- 
sible for  a  person  to  live  a  pure  life  in  the  midst  of 
surrounding  vices.  One  does  not  need  to  choose  the 


SELF-ACTIVITY  79 

surrounding  vice  to  be  his  substantial  good,  but 
may  go  on  indefinitely  affirming  his  constant  rejec- 
tion of  it,  thus  preventing  it  from  becoming  any 
part  of  his  mental  condition.  It  is  true  that  one 
may  also  give  way  and  choose  the  evil  instead  of  the 
good,  but  this  negative  freedom  is  only  the  natural 
correlative  of  the  freedom  to  do  right;  and  all  this 
but  offers  the  opportunity  for  education  to  give  such 
enlightenment1  as  shall  lead  one  to  value  rightly  the 
good,  the  true,  and  the  beautiful,  and  thus  to  use 
these  as  motives  in  life,  while  seeing  clearly  the  lack 
of  permanent  value  in  the  evil,  the  false,  and  the 
ugly.  The  chance  to  fail  is  but  the  opportunity  to 
succeed  in  a  high  and  worthy  way,  —  a  way  so  high 
and  worthy  that  it  could  not  be  had  at  all  except  as 
the  correlative  of  the  chance  to  do  wrong. 

The  self-activity,  then,  treated  in  this  chapter  is 
the  power  of  the  mind  (or  soul)  to  respond  to  mo- 
tives, thus  leading  to  freedom  in  choosing,  and  so 
to  moral  responsibility.  This  is  the  fundamental 
controlling  fact  of  all  psychology,  so  far  as  psycho- 
logical principles  are  helpful  in  education.  All 
right  methods  of  teaching  grow  out  of  this  prin- 
ciple and  its  correlates.  School  organization,  so  far 
as  it  is  to  be  helpful  in  carrying  forward  the  edu- 
cational process,  must  properly  regard  the  self-active 
nature  of  the  child.  Self-government  can  be  realized 
politically  and  socially  only  by  persons  whose  powers 


80  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

of  initiative  have  been  developed  and  trained  and 
regulated  by  high  motives  or  ideals. 

With  this  principle  kept  well  in  view,  education 
resolves  itself  into  the  self-active  process  of  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  the  world  of  matter  and  the 
world  of  spirit ;  of  so  sensing  the  values  of  the  differ- 
ent elements  of  knowledge  thus  gained  that  right 
motives  may  be  discerned  and  set  up  as  ideals;  of 
responding  to  ideals  until  conduct  is  rightly  directed 
and  the  sturdy  qualities  of  perfected  character  are 
produced  by  the  soul's  fine  activities. 

The  following  chapters  will  deal  with  the  theo- 
retical and  practical  problems  involved  in  such  an 
educational  process. 

In  closing  this  chapter  on  Self-activity  it  may  be 
said  in  general  that  modern  education,  and  especially 
the  "  new  education  "  so  called,  has  always  theoreti- 
cally claimed  to  be  founded  on  the  principle  of  self- 
activity.  But  in  application  there  has  been  wide 
divergence  of  practice  among  teachers.  A  doctrine 
so  fundamental  is  peculiarly  susceptible  of  misinter- 
pretation. A  few  instances  may  be  mentioned  here 
by  way  of  illustrating  both  the  fundamental  character 
of  the  principle  and  its  liability  to  misapplication  in 
practice. 

First,  perhaps,  in  importance  and  prominence  is 
the  kindergarten.  From  the  time  of  Froebel  till  the 
present  day  it  has  been  claimed  as  a  fundamental 


SELF-ACTIVITY  8 1 

doctrine  of  kindergarten  philosophy  that  the  self- 
active  character  of  the  child  should  be  safely  guarded. 
The  methods  of  the  kindergarten  are  carefully 
planned  to  develop  rather  than  dwarf  the  child's 
power  of  initiative.  Everywhere  the  child  is  to  be 
led  to  appreciate  values  so  as  to  prefer  the  good,  the 
true,  and  the  beautiful;  he  is  then  to  be  allowed 
frequent  opportunities  to  exercise  his  power  of  choice 
and  to  execute  for  himself  his  own  plans.  But  the 
ever-present  kindergartner  sometimes  allows  her  own 
energy  and  her  own  initiative  to  take  the  place  of 
these  same  qualities  in  her  pupils,  so  that  she  be- 
comes each  day  more  and  more  a  necessity  to  the 
children,  both  in  their  work  and  in  their  play.  While, 
therefore,  the  kindergartner  succeeds  in  making  the 
kindergarten  a  very  popular  institution,  she  some- 
times gradually  enervates  the  power  of  real  initiative 
in  the  children.  From  day  to  day  they  become  more 
helpless  if  left  alone,  and  more  and  more  dependent 
on  some  one  for  plans  and  for  stimulation  toward 
their  execution.  While  children  so  treated  progress 
happily  and  rapidly  in  many  ways,  they  are  moving 
steadily  toward  a  day  of  tragedy,  —  a  day  when  cir- 
cumstances will  require  that  they  shall  be  self-active, 
both  in  planning  and  in  executing.  Such  children 
call  constantly  for  stimulation  of  an  artificial  nature, 
and  are  slow  to  become  interested  naturally  in  occupa- 
tion of  the  hour  through  a  sense  of  accomplishment. 


82  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Much  of  the  criticism  against  the  kindergarten,  espe- 
cially by  teachers  of  primary  grades,  is  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  many  kindergartners  have  failed, 
as  described  above,  in  the  practical  application  of 
this  principle  of  self -activity.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  the  true  kindergartner  so  applies  this  principle 
as  to  make  the  children  day  by  day  more  self-reliant, 
inventive,  and  successful. 

A  similar  misapplication  of  the  principle  of  self- 
activity  was  common  a  few  years  ago  in  primary 
and  even  in  intermediate  grades.  I  refer  to  what 
was  known  as  the  "  development  method  "  of  teach- 
ing. In  this  method  the  teacher  always  took  the 
lead  in  each  new  topic,  using  questions  in  such  a 
way  as  to  lead  the  child  gradually  from  known  facts 
to  the  related  unknown  facts  of  the  new  lesson.  The 
teacher's  question  supplied  the  trend  of  thought, 
the  grade  of  ascent,  and  the  height  of  the  step  to  be 
taken  at  each  advance ;  while  the  child  was  required 
to  do  sufficient  thinking  to  discern  the  relations  in- 
volved and  to  attain  the  desired  knowledge.  It  was 
the  proud  boast  of  the  teacher  that  he  could  teach  a 
child  new  truth  in  this  way  without  telling  him  any- 
thing; it  was  implied  that  the  child  should  think  it 
all  out  by  himself.  The  claim  was  set  up  that  this 
method  of  teaching  led  the  child  to  logical  habits  of 
thought,  and  that  he  remembered  more  completely 
and  perfectly  what  he  learned  in  this  way  than  he 


SELF-ACTIVITY  83 

did  what  was  merely  told  him  by  his  teacher.  But, 
strange  to  say,  it  was  later  discovered  that  pupils 
taught  exclusively  by  this  method  gradually  became 
helpless  when  deprived  of  the  framework  or  form  of 
procedure  furnished  by  the  teacher's  questions.  To 
preserve  and  develop  the  child's  power  of  initiative, 
he  must  be  required  to  invent  ways  and  means  of 
doing  his  mental  work,  and  so  become  more  and 
more  self-helpful  and  self-reliant  as  his  education 
proceeds. 


CHAPTER  III 

SELF-REVELATION 

In  the  preceding  chapter  self-activity  is  spoken  of 
as  the  primal  or  distinguishing  attribute  of  a  human 
being.  Sharp  distinction  is  there  drawn  between 
forms  of  partial  self-activity,  as  seen  especially  in 
plant  life,  and  the  full  form  exhibited  in  the  human 
spirit.  It  was  shown  that  moral  responsibility  attaches 
itself  to  that  form  only  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
human  being.  Partial  freedom,  of  the  kind  found  in 
plants  and  animals,  can  give  no  ground  for  moral 
responsibility.  The  plant  must  begin  action  when 
the  conditions  are  supplied,  and  must  confine  its  ac- 
tions within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  conditions. 
The  human  spirit  has  the  power  to  begin  its  actions 
when  appropriate  conditions  are  supplied,  but  it 
also  has  the  power  to  refuse  (actively)  to  abide  by 
the  limitations  suggested  by  the  supplied  condi- 
tions. It  has  the  power,  indeed,  to  act  in  some 
other  way  than  that  for  which  conditions  are  sup- 
plied, in  this  case  furnishing  for  itself  its  own  causes 
of  action. 

Even  solicitation  from  the  outside  may  not  secure 

compliance  from  the  self-active,  free  spirit.  The  very 

84 


SELF-REVELATION  85 

suggestion  from  outside  sources  for  a  special  course 
of  action  may  be  regarded  as  reason  for  an  opposite 
course.  The  soul  sets  its  own  value  upon  reasons  or 
conditions  offered,  and  proceeds  to  act  as  it  will  in 
view  of  these  self -estimated  values.  This  constitutes 
action  from  motives  or  ideals,  and  such  action  is 
always  self-action, — free ;  that  is,  induced  by  motives 
self-created  as  opposed  to  action  compelled  by  an 
outside  force.  This  value,  which  becomes  motive,  is 
not  a  reasoned  value  primarily,  at  least,  but  rather  a 
felt  value.  Whatever  presents  a  felt  value  to  the 
child  will  influence  through  motive  his  subsequent 
or  consequent  action.  Since  the  human  being  is  free 
to  judge  values,  he  is  free  to  accept  or  reject  motives, 
and  therefore  still  free  in  his  action.  The  teacher  is 
able  to  teach — that  is,  to  direct  to  a  degree  the  mental 
activities  of  the  child  —  by  presenting  values  in  such 
a  way  that  the  child  feels  and  perceives  such  values 
and  surrenders  himself  freely  to  them  as  motives  to 
action.  The  teacher  usually  speaks  of  this  process 
as  "  creating  interest."  It  is  a  fundamental  condition 
for  all  teaching,  however  much  it  may  have  been 
abused  and  parodied  in  the  modern  school.  The  true 
teacher  soon  becomes  aware  that  the  human  soul 
may  be  solicited,  encouraged,  stimulated,  urged,  and 
even  challenged  to  action,  but  never  commanded  or 
compelled.  This  perfect  freedom,  it  will  be  kept  in 
mind,  belongs  to  the  spiritual  nature  only  of  the 


86  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

human  being.  The  physical  part  necessarily  partakes 
of  the  limitations  belonging  to  matter  everywhere. 

It  has  now  been  sufficiently  pointed  out  that  the 
human  infant  is  potentiality  —  possibility  —  self- 
activity —  supplied  with  a  body  as  a  means  of  con- 
nection with  the  material  world.  This  constitutes  a 
human  being  at  birth.  It  is  true  that  there  are  limi- 
tations placed  on  the  spirit  by  its  connection  with  a 
material  body,  but  there  are  compensating  advan- 
tages, at  least,  for  spiritual  life  in  a  world  of  matter. 
Indeed,  we  cannot  conceive  how  a  spirit  would  live 
at  all  in  a  world  of  matter  without  this  means  of  con- 
nection through  its  nervous  system  and  the  sense 
organs.  At  any  rate,  if  such  existence  is  possible,  it 
has  no  place  in  a  discussion  of  the  educational  process 
in  this  world  of  combined  material  and  spiritual  con- 
ditions. It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  education 
of  the  human  being  is  to  be  attained  only  through 
its  own  free  action  in  thinking  and  feeling  and  choos- 
ing,— the  only  kinds  of  action  of  which  a  soul  or  spirit 
is  capable.  It  has  already  been  commented  upon,  too, 
that  whatever  of  training  is  needed  for  the  body,  in 
order  that  it  may  become  a  better  instrument  for  the 
use  of  the  soul  in  human  living,  may  properly  be 
included  in  the  scope  of  education.  In  fact,  it  is 
inconceivable  that  the  spirit  should  secure  perfect 
education  for  itself  in  the  world  without  correspond- 
ing development  of  the  body.  Certainly  many  of  the 


SELF-REVELATION  87 

most  educative  influences  brought  within  the  soul's 
reach  come  through  bodily  organs  and  functions. 

One  cannot  know  what  solicitations  to  action  may 
be  offered  to  a  pure  spirit,  that  is,  a  spirit  without  a 
body ;  but  the  first  solicitations  that  come  to  a  human 
being  to  begin  its  actions  of  thinking,  feeling,  and 
willing,  come  through  the  sense  organs  of  the  body. 
Through  the  eye  bright  colors  and  beautiful  forms 
solicit  the  action  of  the  mind  or  soul,  and  in  due 
season,  and  of  his  own  volition,  the  child  reacts  upon 
the  objects  which  thus  make  their  appeal.  Moving 
color  seems,  first  of  all,  to  make  such  vibration  or 
disturbance  of  nervous  tissue  as  to  secure  the  atten- 
tion of  the  infant  soul.  We  can  scarcely  believe  that 
the  first  attention  is  intentional  in  any  fair  sense. 
However,  all  the  mental  actions  of  an  infant  are 
vague,  as  all  the  actions  of  its  body  are  evidently  at 
first  entirely  reflex.  But  many  repetitions  of  the 
solicitation  result  in  the  soul's  getting  a  felt  value 
(or  pleasure)  from  the  action  of  attention.  Here 
is  the  first  appearance  of  motive  in  the  life  of  the 
young  human  being.  The  felt  value  tends  to  secure 
the  vaguest  kind  of  attention,  which  in  its  turn 
increases  the  felt  value  of  the  experience  and  gradu- 
ally changes  the  latter  somewhat  by  introducing  the 
first  trace  of  distinction  between  the  soul  which 
feels  and  the  something  which  offers  the  occasion 
of  the  experience. 


88  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

The  first  soul  activities  are  therefore  vaguely  inter- 
fused processes  of  feeling,  thinking,  and  choosing,  no 
one  of  them  sufficiently  differentiated  from  the  others 
to  be  as  yet  definitely  discriminated  and  named. 
Much  repetition  increases  the  intensity  of  such 
action,  until  there  is  for  the  moment  a  perceptible 
predominance  of  some  one  of  these  three  elements 
of  soul  action.  As  the  intellectual  element  grows 
more  intense  and  clearly  marked,  some  knowledge 
of  the  object  is  obtained ;  as  feeling  (usually,  at  this 
stage,  pleasure  or  pain)  increases  and  grows  more 
intense,  the  motive  value  or  pleasure  value  of  the 
object  becomes  plainer  and  plainer.  As  these  two 
processes  grow  stronger  and  stronger  there  is  greater 
and  greater  reason  for  giving  more  definite  attention, 
until  soon  the  attention  itself  takes  on  a  distinctively 
voluntary  character,  and  the  act  of  choice  has  been 
fully  exercised.  The  child  has  chosen  to  give  atten- 
tion as  solicited. 

The  union  of  these  three  processes  in  this  way, 
through  many  repetitions,  serves  to  develop  the  first 
vague  sense  of  self-consciousness,  that  is,  conscious- 
ness of  self  as  separate  from  or  different  from  other 
things.  The  sense  of  value  which  is  the  basis  of  this 
distinction  is  of  course  exceedingly  vague  at  first ;  but 
many  repetitions,  through  the  same  sense  or  other 
senses,  develop  this  power  to  discriminate  and  esti- 
mate value  through  feeling  (probably  at  first  mainly 


SELF-REVELATION  89 

in  the  form  of  sensation)  very  rapidly.  Through  the 
senses  of  touch,  taste,  smell,  hearing,  as  well  as  sight, 
the  child  is  solicited  to  give  more  and  more  of  his 
active  attention  to  the  objects  whose  attributes  yield 
themselves  to  him  in  the  combined  process  of  feeling 
and  knowing;  till  at  last  he  begins  to  discern  the 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  objects  which  thus 
attract  his  attention,  and  himself,  the  sentient  subject 
of  such  experiences.  There  can  be  little  volition  till 
this  distinction  has  been  established,  and  pleasure  is 
recognized  as  a  state  of  self  or  myself.  The  distinc- 
tions referred  to  here  are  extremely  vague  for  many 
months,  and  in  some  cases  for  years,  of  the  life  of 
the  young  child. 

In  Book  XLV  of  "In  Memoriam,"  Tennyson 
gives  the  best  poetic  statement  of  this  psychological 
development  in  self-consciousness  that  I  have  ever 
seen  in  print: 

The  baby  new  to  earth  and  sky, 

What  time  his  tender  palm  is  prest 
Against  the  circle  of  the  breast, 

Has  never  thought  that  "  this  is  I  " : 

But  as  he  grows  he  gathers  much, 

And  learns  the  use  of  "  I,"  and  "  me," 
And  finds  "  I  am  not  what  I  see, 

And  other  than  the  things  I  touch." 

So  rounds  he  to  a  separate  mind 

From  whence  clear  memory  may  begin, 
As  thro'  the  frame  that  binds  him  in 

His  isolation  grows  defined. 


90  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

With  this  clear  demarcation  between  one's  self  and 
the  other  things  of  the  universe,  self-revelation  may 
fairly  be  said  to  have  begun.  This  stage  marks 
a  marvelous  advance  in  human  development.  In  fact, 
this  is  the  first  significant  hint  of  personal  immor- 
tality —  a  being,  distinct  in  its  individuality,  capable 
of  mastering  its  environment  so  as  at  last  to  create 
for  itself  a  spiritual  environment  to  which  it  may  by 
constant  striving  keep  itself  forever  fairly  well  adapted. 

Self-revelation,  however,  is  not  fully  developed,  — 
only  just  begun.  We  have  already  seen  two  elements 
of  the  soul's  activity  which  make  possible  self-appre- 
ciation, in  the  high  sense  in  which  the  word  is  used 
here.  These  are  (i)  an  intellectual  discrimination 
between  the  self  and  other  things,  based  on  a  differ- 
ence in  their  attributes ;  and  (2)  a  felt  sense  of  value 
to  the  soul  in  these  various  things,  when  their  attri- 
butes have  been  found  out.  Not  only  are  things 
found  to  be  different  from  the  self  as  individual 
things,  but  some  of  them  are  found  to  be  helpful  to 
the  soul  and  others  hurtful  to  the  soul,  as  it  exercises 
its  powers  upon  them.  This  point  needs  to  be  clearly 
understood.  Whenever  the  real  life  of  the  soul  —  its 
real  life  development  as  a  spiritual  entity  —  is  helped 
forward  by  its  knowledge  of  the  attributes  of  things, 
these  attributes,  or  the  things  furnishing  these  attri- 
butes, are  recognized  as  being  helpful  to  the  soul 
which  occupies  its  thoughts  and  feelings  with  them. 


SELF-REVELATION  91 

But  if  thinking  and  feeling  these  attributes  retard 
the  soul's  true  development,  then  the  soul  soon 
learns  to  consider  these  things  as  self-hurtful.  This 
is  another  way  of  saying  that  the  soul's  real  develop- 
ment is  dependent  upon  what  it  thinks,  how  it  feels, 
and  what  it  chooses  or  does. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  long  time  before  the  soul  has 
any  clear  distinctions  or  strong  convictions  in  regard 
to  such  matters.  It  is  during  this  early  stage  of 
development  of  the  sense  of  real  values  —  the  percep- 
tion of  what  is  really  and  truly  helpful  to  the  soul  in 
its  own  education  —  that  the  teacher  and  parent  have 
their  greatest  opportunity.  The  most  casual  remark 
upon  such  matters  by  one  who  is  loved  and  respected 
by  the  child  will  often  turn  the  balance  in  favor  of  or 
against  certain  standards  of  value  about  which  the 
child  is  more  or  less  doubtful.  This  is  especially  true 
in  the  province  of  the  conscience  and  as  regards  all 
standards  of  conduct,  but  it  is  also  true  in  other 
processes  of  thought  and  action. 

However,  nature  early  takes  a  hand  in  developing 
this  sense  of  spiritual  values  for  the  child,  and  it  is 
merely  the  privilege  of  parent  and  teacher  to  be  co- 
workers  with  nature  in  these  early  years.  The  child 
lives  his  physical  life  in  the  midst  of  potent  forces, 
each,  through  his  sense  organs,  seeking  to  gain  his 
attention.  Every  color,  form,  taste,  odor,  fragrance, 
smoothness,  roughness,  hardness,  softness,  or  other 


92  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

attribute  mastered  through  the  senses  soon  comes 
to  be  appreciated  by  the  soul  as  answering  a  felt 
spiritual  need.  This  in  turn  becomes  a  self-revelation 
of  the  soul  to  itself,  disclosing  its  capacities  or  pos- 
sibilities of  enjoyment.  As  perception  grows  clearer 
and  as  these  attributes  are  seen  to  inhere  in  objects, 
the  objects  themselves  become  of  interest  to  the 
child.  He  seeks  acquaintance  with  them  till  he  finds 
what  attributes  they  possess  and  to  what  uses  for 
himself  he  may  put  them.  The  very  enjoyment  of  a 
beautiful  color  or  a  significant  form  or  a  graceful 
motion  may  in  itself  prove  to  be  a  matter  of  soul 
growth  by  answering  a  felt  need  of  the  spirit  for 
nutriment.  But  it  does  more  than  this,  —  it  makes 
the  person  conscious  of  his  own  power  of  enjoyment. 
Every  new  case  of  a  gratified  need  of  the  soul  is  a 
new  self-revelation,  until  little  by  little  the  capacity 
for  enjoyment  is  exercised  in  so  many  ways  and 
finds  its  gratification  in  so  many  things  that  the  ex- 
ternal world  becomes  to  the  child  the  unlimited 
source  of  countless  pleasures.  It  is  devoutly  to  be 
wished  that  the  school  might  keep  this  sane  and 
helpful  relation  between  the  child  and  external 
nature  unbroken,  for  the  enjoyment  of  nature  is  a 
part  of  the  great  life  development,  which  in  a  semi- 
conscious way  his  whole  being  is  urging  forward.  In 
this  way  the  child  has  begun  to  conquer  his  environ- 
ment for  spiritual  uses,  and  the  sense  of  pleasure 


SELF-REVELATION  93 

and  increasing  power  gives  him  an  elation  of  mind 
which  is  of  higher  grade  than  the  satisfaction  of 
hunger  or  thirst  or  any  other  purely  physical  need. 
The  material  world  is  beginning  to  answer  a  felt 
need  of  the  soul. 

The  child  does  not  occupy  his  entire  time,  however, 
in  mastering  the  external  world  of  matter.  He  early 
gets  pleasure  by  sharing  his  experiences  with  others, 
and  the  joys  of  companionship  open  other  possibili- 
ties of  himself  as  the  subject  of  activities  which 
gratify  a  felt  need  —  a  spiritual  need  of  the  develop- 
ing soul.  In  companionship  both  with  those  of  his 
own  age  and  with  teachers  and  parents  the  child  is 
finding  out  what  others  think,  and  how  they  feel 
and  act,  and  what  their  standards  of  conduct  are. 
The  teacher  and  the  parent  are  important  parts  of 
the  child's  environment,  exceeded  in  value  only  by 
the  companionship  of  other  children.  Real  growth 
is  forwarded  more  rapidly  and  healthily  by  right 
companionship  than  by  any  other  force  that  the 
school  can  organize  and  use.  It  is  true  that  acquaint- 
ance with  the  external  world  is  important,  but  chiefly 
as  a  means  to  intelligent  participation  with  other 
persons  in  the  institutions  of  civilized  life.  In  this 
companionship  the  child  feels  his  own  life  expanding, 
and  soon  he  comes  to  value  most  highly  the  inspi- 
rations to  right  living  which  come  to  him  from  this 
source.  He  begins  to  feel  himself  an  individual,  a 


94  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

personal  force,  and  he  exults  in  the  growth  which 
comes  to  him  naturally  through  his  spiritual  mas- 
tery of  the  world.  His  own  free  activities  furnish 
him  with  interests  and  motives.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  school  to  keep  his  interests  diversified  and 
his  enthusiasm  unabated. 

Thus  far  we  have  traced  the  growth  of  self-activity 
into  self-consciousness  in  its  initial  stages  only.  The 
world  is  wide.  From  the  condition  of  awakening 
self-consciousness,  or  the  beginning  of  self-revelation, 
to  the  condition  of  a  wise,  thoughtful,  sane,  serene, 
well-poised,  capable  man  or  woman  is  a  long  jour- 
ney. Completely  developed  self-consciousness,  that 
is,  complete  mastery  of  the  universe  for  use  in  life 
development,  would  include: 

1.  A  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  all  the  capaci- 
ties and  possibilities  of  culture  with  which  a  human 
being  is  endowed. 

2.  A  knowledge  of  all  the  attributes  of  all  the 
other  things  in  the  universe. 

3.  A  knowledge  of  all  the  ways  in  which  any  or 
all  these  attributes  of  all  the  other  things  in  the  uni- 
verse could  be  made  to  minister  to  the  welfare  of 
the  human  being. 

Our  courses  of  study  will  naturally  include  but  a 
small  portion  of  this  all-inclusive  schedule,  but  a 
human  being  grows  in  self-revelation  precisely  as  he 
works  toward  the  point  here  indicated.  He  may  well 


SELF-REVELATION  95 

be  called  a  person  of  liberal  education,  however, 
before  he  has  proceeded  far  along  the  way. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  self- 
revelation  grows  as  our  education  proceeds,  —  as  we 
master  the  world  of  knowledge,  —  and  how  life  de- 
velopment proceeds  as  intelligence  increases,  let  us 
study  for  a  moment  the  ways  in  which  a  child  is 
affected  in  succeeding  stages  of  growth  by  so  simple 
a  thing  as  an  orange.  The  child's  mastery  of  what 
the  orange  means  in  its  fullest  ministry  to  his  life 
development  takes  many  years,  proceeding  as  edu- 
cation or  circumstance  brings  the  subject  in  its  suc- 
cessive phases  before  his  attention.  Perhaps,  at  first, 
the  moving  orange  attracts  his  infantile  attention. 
The  motion  of  the  yellow  sphere  wins  his  notice, 
and  the  color  gratifies  a  need  of  his  spirit,  giving  a 
real  pleasure,  though  probably  a  slight  one.  There 
is  without  doubt  an  artistic  value  in  orange  color, 
which  makes  it  attractive  even  to  an  uneducated 
eye.  The  shape,  too,  meets  a  need  of  the  soul,  giving 
a  sense  of  completeness  which  is  restful.  By  touch 
he  gets  the  idea  of  the  roughness  of  its  surface.  The 
contrast  with  other  surfaces  develops  discrimination, 
and  the  exercises  of  comparison  and  contrast  are  a 
source  of  growing  power  and  efficiency  in  the  child's 
mental  life ;  thus,  since  all  normal  mental  action  is 
in  itself  pleasant,  the  result  is  gratifying.  By  taste 
he  gets  an  answer  to  a  felt  need,  which  at  this  age 


96  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

is  no  less  strong  than  if  the  need  were  purely  a 
spiritual  one.  When  the  orange  is  found  to  satisfy 
hunger  and  thirst,  its  usefulness  is  further  established, 
and  it  is  placed  in  the  child's  category  of  things 
which  answer  promptly  to  felt  needs  of  his  nature. 
These  gratifications  are  increased  through  the  years 
as  he  finds  the  orange  healthful  as  food.  This  fact 
raises  questions  of  permanent  supply,  and  methods 
of  culture  interest  him.  His  thought  of  other  people's 
needs  will  turn  his  attention  to  the  transportation 
and  distribution  of  the  fruit.  The  beauty  and  fra- 
grance of  the  flower  gratify  aesthetic  tendencies  un- 
touched by  the  attributes  previously  named.  His 
interest  rises  high  at  the  sight  of  a  well-cultivated 
orange  orchard,  and  the  delicate  beauty  of  flower 
and  tree  easily  suggests  spiritual  beauties,  which 
adorn  the  inner  life.  As  his  spiritual  life  develops 
and  love  comes  to  typify  its  highest,  purest,  and 
holiest  moments,  he  sees  the  significance  of  outward 
beauty  as  the  sign  of  inward  purity,  and  he  recog- 
nizes the  fitness  of  the  sentiment  which  places  the 
orange  blossom  in  the  bridal  wreath.  Thus  the 
orange  has  ministered  to  his  spiritual  development 
from  the  time  when  he  met  it  on  the  lower  plane  of 
the  senses  till  it  entrances  him  with  visions  of  happy 
lovers  and  bridal  processions. 

However,  as  we  have  seen  before,  the  child  is  not 
limited  to  the  material  world  for  stimulation  of  his 


SELF-REVELATION  97 

mental  or  spiritual  life.  He  has  the  whole  field  of 
companionship  with  personalities  of  his  own  kind, 
with  the  resulting  sympathies  and  inspirations  that 
belong  to  human  intimacies.  The  most  significant 
things  in  the  world  are  persons.  Nature  study  will 
fail  of  its  best  results  in  the  schoolroom  or  else- 
where if  it  be  not  made  the  means  of  a  better  inter- 
pretation of  humanity  and  a  fuller  measure  of  human 
sympathy.  We  visit  the  Old  World  not  chiefly  for  its 
scenery,  though  much  of  it  is  beautiful,  but  rather 
because  it  is  there  that  human  history  has  been  made. 
We  go  there  to  see  the  places  where  men  and  women 
have  lived  and  loved  and  struggled  and  conquered. 
It  is  the  human  element  that  makes  places  sacred. 
And  so  it  is  at  home.  Everything  else  is  chiefly 
means  for  making  it  possible  for  people  to  associate 
together  in  the  most  fitting  way.  The  child  is  edu- 
cated through  companionship.  He  meets  and  asso- 
ciates with  a  person  who,  through  his  actions  and 
his  speech,  manifests  certain  attributes.  If  these 
attributes,  in  the  degree  shown,  impress  the  child  as 
worthy,  or  as  desirable,  he  straightway  changes  his 
standard  to  suit  the  new  knowledge,  and  he  is  power- 
fully stimulated  to  emulate  the  characteristics  noted. 
By  his  own  efforts  the  child  has  an  additional  reve- 
lation of  his  own  powers  as  he  finds  himself  attain- 
ing some  degree  of  the  admired  characteristics.  His 
own  need,  gratified,  is  transformed  into  a  new  power, 


98  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  his  soul  has  grown.  In  other  words,  he  has 
entered  upon  a  new  life  on  a  higher  level. 

If  he  meets  some  one  who  sympathizes  with  him 
justly  and  deliberately,  he  instantly  recognizes  this 
sympathy  as  a  universal  need  of  the  human  being, 
and  finds  himself  capable  in  time  of  responding  in 
like  manner  to  others.  His  whole  nature  thrills  as 
he  witnesses  here  and  there  sympathy  with  the  un- 
fortunate, and  he  soon  establishes  bonds  of  connec- 
tion with  others  through  this  universal  element  of 
human  companionship.  When  he  sees  acts  of  real 
kindness  he  is  quick  to  yield  admiration,  though  he 
has  never  before  been  fully  aware  of  the  human 
need  in  his  own  soul.  Every  element  of  noble  char- 
acter, as  it  finds  fit  expression  in  his  presence, 
strikes  a  corresponding  note  of  approval,  gives  a 
sense  of  gratification,  and  develops  an  honest  pride 
in  the  nobility  of  our  common  humanity. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  that  all  these  things 
are  consciously  worked  out  in  the  mind  of  a  child 
from  a  single  set  of  suggestions.  I  mean  rather  that 
unconsciously  at  first,  and  semiconsciously  at  best, 
these  effects  are  produced,  till  little  by  little  a  child 
comes  into  an  understanding  of  his  human  inherit- 
ance. He  has  had  the  possibility  of  his  nature 
revealed  to  himself,  and  has  thus  far  become  self- 
conscious,  using  this  term  in  its  best  sense. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  while  an  environment 


SELF-REVELATION  99 

of  noble  persons  will  make  this  revelation  of  nobility, 
an  environment  of  immoral  associates  will  reveal 
the  possible  depth  of  evil  which  is  the  natural  correl- 
ative of  the  noblest  human  nature.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  the  school  to  furnish  an  appropriate  environment 
of  persons  as  well  as  of  things. 

The  foundation  has  now  been  laid  for  a  discussion 
of  the  doctrine  of  interest  as  a  motive  for  education. 
The  discussion,  especially  of  mediate  interest,  will 
trench  a  little  upon  the  theme  of  our  next  chap- 
ter, but  it  is  thought  better  to  include  a  full  dis- 
cussion here  than  to  divide  the  topic  between  two 
chapters. 

We  have  seen  that  the  soul  grows  steadily  in  the 
appreciation  of  value  in  objects  as  its  knowledge  of 
their  useful  attributes  increases.  This  felt  or  ap- 
preciated value  is  the  basis  of  interest,  as  the  term 
is  used  in  education.  Literally,  we  are  interested  in 
a  thing  when  we  believe  it  concerns  us.  We  find 
out  that  it  concerns  us  when  we  discover  that  its 
attributes  are  such  as  will  gratify  some  element  of 
our  nature.  We  are  more  deeply  interested  if,  with 
immediate  gratification  caused  by  the  object,  there  is 
present  with  us  an  expectancy  that  this  gratification 
will  be  prolonged  or  enhanced  by  our  continued  at- 
tention to  the  object,  either  from  the  contemplation 
of  attributes  already  discovered,  or  through  new 
ones  yet  to  be  disclosed.  While  this  state  of  present 


ioo  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

gratification  and  the  expectancy  excited  are  both  in- 
ternal, or  subjective  to  the  mind  feeling  them,  they 
extend  outward  to  the  object  whose  attributes  cause 
them.  We  are  then  said  to  be  interested  in  the 
thing  whose  attributes  cause  the  subjective  states  of 
pleasure  and  expectancy.  The  things  in  which  we 
may  thus  become  interested  are  as  numerous  as  are 
the  objects  of  the  physical  world  outside  us  and  of 
the  mental  and  moral  world  within  us.  But  the  in- 
terest itself  is  a  subjective  thing, — a  felt  gratification 
or  a  felt  expectancy.  The  gratification  is  two-sided 
in  a  way,  being  partly  the  gratification  coming  from 
the  satisfying  of  a  felt  need  of  the  nature,  and  partly 
the  gratification  of  a  natural  desire  for  action  of  all 
normal  powers.  This  very  practice  which  the  mind 
has,  with  its  intellectual  power,  in  finding  out  the 
attributes  of  an  object,  yields  a  kind  of  gratification, 
—  that  which  follows  the  right  exercise  of  any 
capacity  or  power. 

To   repeat,  then,  interest   as  a  state   has   three 
elements : 

1.  Gratification  or  pleasure  due  to  normal  action 
of  one's  powers  in  investigation. 

2.  Gratification  of  a  felt  need  of  the  soul  by  the 
attributes  discovered  in  objects. 

3.  A  feeling  of  expectancy  that  continuation  of 
the  investigation  will  prolong  or  enhance  the  grati- 
fication named. 


SELF-REVELATION  IOI 

Therefore,  when  I  say  that  I  am  interested  in  a 
thing,  I  mean  precisely  that  my  mind,  through  some 
of  its  powers,  is  apprehending  one,  or  more,  of  the 
attributes  of  the  object;  and  that  this  attribute, 
through  being  thus  apprehended,  is  giving  satisfac- 
tion to  me ;  and  also  that  there  is  in  me  an  expect- 
ancy that  the  object  will,  through  this  or  other  of 
its  attributes,  continue  to  afford  me  pleasure.  To 
illustrate :  Let  a  horseshoe  magnet  be  placed  before 
a  child  who  has  heretofore  known  nothing  of  its 
peculiar  capacities  or  attributes.  At  first  sight  the 
object  has  no  special  interest  for  him.  Why?  Be- 
cause those  attributes  of  the  iron  which  become  ap- 
parent on  first  notice  are  not  by  their  nature  adapted 
to  gratify  in  a  satisfactory  way  any  of  the  child's 
sensibilities.  The  color  is  not  particularly  pleasing ; 
in  size,  shape,  or  weight  it  does  not  gratify  any  sense 
of  wonder  nor  any  delightful  fancy  of  the  soul;  it 
yields  no  pleasurable  sensations  to  any  sense;  it 
satisfies  no  longing  aspirations;  it  appeals  to  no 
sense  of  order  in  the  universe,  no  feeling  of  the  sub- 
lime, no  impression  of  novelty  even.  Although  the 
capacity  to  be  impressed  or  gratified  is  resident  in 
the  mind,  and  these  common  attributes  of  the  iron 
are  known  by  the  mind,  none  of  them  is  adapted  to 
start  up  the  feeling  of  gratification.  There  is,  accord- 
ingly, no  interest  felt.  But  this  piece  of  iron  has  not 
yet  manifested  all  its  attributes,  because  as  yet  no 


102  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

condition  has  been  fixed  which  would  allow  or  cause 
it  to  do  so.  Now  place  some  iron  filings  on  the 
table  and  pass  the  magnet  near  or  over  them.  The 
magnetism  manifests  itself  as  a  power  drawing  these 
filings  to  the  magnet  and  causing  them  to  adhere  with 
considerable  tenacity.  Here  is  an  attribute  which 
by  its  own  character  is  fitted  to  minister  to  the 
wonder-loving  sense  of  the  child,  to  his  innate  love 
of  order,  to  his  fundamental  notion  of  cause  and 
effect,  to  his  own  feeling  of  personal  power,  and 
withal  to  his  sense  of  pleasure  in  the  unexpected. 
At  once,  on  beholding  this  strange  power  in  so 
unpromising  an  object,  the  sense  of  pleasure  begins 
and  a  state  of  interest  is  developed.  The  feeling, 
wholly  internal  to  the  child,  is  a  self-gratification, 
but  it  is  extended  outward  and  connected  to  the 
wonderful  power  of  the  magnet  as  its  cause. 

These  gratifications  are,  in  the  main,  pleasures. 
Indeed,  the  pleasurable  element  is  always  present 
with  the  expectancy,  in  true  forms  of  interest,  so  far 
as  this  state  of  mind  is  available  in  education.  It  is 
in  this  respect  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
those  states  of  fear  or  terror  which  fix  the  attention 
and  develop  states  of  expectancy  of  other  than  pleas- 
urable gratifications.  In  true  interest  the  action  of 
the  mind  is  solicited  by  the  object  whose  attributes 
cause  the  gratification,  and  thus  attention  is  caused 
through  interest.  Interest  and  attention  then  react 


SELF-REVELATION  103 

upon  each  other,  every  added  degree  of  attention 
disclosing  new  attributes  which  increase  interest, 
and  each  added  degree  of  interest  soliciting  and 
increasing  the  attention. 

The  element  of  gratification  which  attends  the 
normal  activity  of  one's  powers  or  capacities  is 
founded  on  nature.  It  is  the  pure  pleasure  which 
always  attends  proper  action  of  normal  and  healthy 
organs  or  faculties,  whether  physical  or  mental.  This 
is  a  law  of  nature.  The  organ  or  faculty  is  made  for 
certain  uses,  —  the  eye  for  seeing,  the  ear  for  hear- 
ing, the  hand  for  handling,  the  muscle  for  contract- 
ing or  relaxing,  the  intellect  for  cognizing  and 
reasoning,  the  sensibility  for  loving  and  hating,  the 
will  for  deciding.  Each  power  or  faculty,  physical 
or  mental,  has  its  appropriate  function,  is  adapted 
to  the  doing  of  some  special  kind  of  acting.  The 
health,  happiness,  prosperity,  development,  and  satis- 
faction of  each  power  all  lie  in  doing  naturally,  fully, 
and  freely  that  which  it  is  adapted  and  intended  to 
perform.  A  complete  state  of  interest  contains  all 
three  of  the  elements  named  above.  A  state  of  en- 
thusiastic interest  has  all  three  of  them  to  a  high 
degree.  The  playfulness  of  children  rests  about 
equally  on  all  these  sources  of  pleasure.  Every 
faculty  of  the  child,  —  his  very  muscles,  his  eyes, 
ears,  fingers,  toes,  his  intellect,  his  sensibilities, —  are 
all  in  such  natural  and  harmonious  relation  to  one 


104  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

another  and  to  his  environment  that  each  movement 
answers  to  a  felt  need  of  action,  and  every  element 
of  knowledge  serves  a  use  in  satisfying  a  capacity  of 
enjoyment.  In  all  competitive  games  the  exercise  is 
usually  in  itself  agreeable ;  but  a  higher  sense  of  en- 
joyment, hence  a  deeper  interest,  centers  around  the 
gratification  of  the  native  desire  to  excel,  to  conquer, 
to  be  first  among  one's  fellows.  The  boy's  absorption 
in  the  game  lasts  so  long  as  the  exercise  in  itself 
continues  to  give  pleasure  or  the  hope  of  enjoyment 
of  victory  remains  to  lure  him  on. 

Action  for  the  sake  of  action,  that  is,  action  as 
pure  enjoyment,  is  a  characteristic  of  infancy  and 
childhood.  Action  for  the  sake  of  a  purpose  is  the 
characteristic  of  youth  and  manhood, —  the  result  of 
education  and  a  mark  of  culture.  In  the  infant, 
action  is  almost  or  quite  automatic,  —  certainly  with- 
out conscious  purpose,  —  in  most  cases,  even,  caused 
by  external  forces,  and  therefore  without  even  con- 
scious satisfaction.  A  need  of  the  physical  system 
may  be  met,  but, not  a  felt  need.  The  child  has  as 
yet  no  felt  interest.  Soon  he  awakes  to  the  pleasure 
of  action  both  of  body  and  mind,  and  then  he  be- 
comes aware  of  the  fact  that  action  answers  to  a 
felt  need  of  himself,  is  a  method  of  self-expression, 
and  hence  interesting  because  thus  satisfying.  Soon 
this  action  of  body  and  mind,  especially  of  the 
mind,  secures  for  him  the  attributes  of  things, —  the 


SELF-REVELATION  105 

qualities  of  food,  the  rich  colors  of  beautiful  clothes, 
or  flowers,  or  the  sky,  —  and  a  response  to  a  felt  need 
of  the  soul  produces  satisfaction.  At  this  point  the 
second  element  of  interest  is  introduced,  namely,  in- 
terest in  things  because  their  attributes  have  a  felt 
value  —  give  an  appreciated  answer  to  a  need  of  the 
self.  As  this  element  increases,  the  enjoyment  of 
mere  action,  while  perhaps  not  growing  less,  is  cer- 
tainly becoming  relatively  less  noticeable.  At  any 
rate  the  enjoyment  of  the  knowledge  itself  as  it 
answers  to  the  need  is  capable  of  so  great  develop- 
ment that  it  soon  becomes  the  prominent  element. 
Thus  it  is  that  we  become  interested  in  things,  in 
the  actions  of  others,  and  in  whatever  furnishes  at- 
tributes that  serve  the  uses  which  give  pleasure  or 
satisfaction.  We  may  now  be  said  to  have  interests, 
that  is,  things  which  furnish  us  satisfaction,  with 
which  we  like  to  concern  ourselves,  which  attract  us 
and  solicit  and  receive  our  attention  and  call  forth 
effort  under  tension  of  the  gratification  which  these 
things  produce,  and  the  expectancy  of  continued 
gratification  which  they  promise. 

In  all  this  development  of  immediate  interest 
there  is  little  conscious  direction  of  effort  toward  an 
end  or  ideal,  but  rather  the  spontaneous  undivided 
action  of  the  whole  soul  under  the  inspiration  of 
present  satisfaction.  This  present  satisfaction  is  of 
three  kinds,  as  already  described,  namely,  pleasure 


106  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

of  normal  action  of  our  powers,  gratification  of  the 
sensibilities  through  the  enjoyment  of  the  attributes 
of  things,  and  expectancy  of  continuance  or  advance- 
ment of  the  gratification.  All  of  these  are  imme- 
diate. There  is  no  lapse  of  time  between  the  action 
and  the  enjoyment  of  such  action,  that  is,  the  enjoy- 
ment is  in  the  action  itself ;  in  other  words,  there  is 
no  lapse  of  time  between  the  appropriation  of  the 
attribute  and  the  pleasure  which  such  appropriation 
gives.  The  whole  self  is  bound  up  in  the  acts  and 
the  enjoyments.  The  person  has  found  himself  — 
has  expressed  his  immediate  nature  in  these  very 
acts  which  have  yielded  him  his  natural  satisfaction. 
While,  as  we  have  seen,  interest  as  a  state  or 
condition  is  always  internal,  we  have  also  seen  that 
it  invariably  extends  itself  out  toward,  and  expends 
itself  upon,  some  object,  —  some  definite  recipient, 
embodying  the  attributes  which  first  gave  the  grati- 
fication and  which  now  develop  expectancy.  When 
the  number  of  things  in  which  one  thus  feels  an 
interest  has  enlarged,  through  more  extended  knowl- 
edge, the  number  of  one's  interests  has  correspond- 
ingly increased.  Hence  it  is  manifest  that  one's 
range  of  interests  is  somewhat  definitely  related  to 
the  scope  of  his  knowledge,  since  it  is  impossible 
that  he  should  feel  interest  in  anything  upon  which 
he  has  never  employed  his  powers,  or  whose  attri- 
butes have  never  gratified  any  need  of  his  mind. 


SELF-REVELATION  107 

It  therefore  follows  that  so  far  as  he  extends  his 
acquaintance  with  things,  he  enlarges  the  probability 
that  he  will  discover  more  attributes  which  furnish 
him  enjoyment,  that  he  will  consequently  increase 
the  number  of  his  interests,  and  that  finding  himself 
in  touch  with  more  of  the  elements  of  his  environ- 
ment, he  will  be  enabled  to  live  more  richly  and  to 
appropriate  to  his  own  gratification  a  larger  share 
of  the  things  of  the  universe. 

Many  writers,  both  in  this  country  and  in  the  Old 
World,  have  recently  laid  great  stress  upon  the  proc- 
ess of  enlarging  the  range  of  interests  as  a  part  of 
education,  to  the  end  that  the  educated  person  may 
know  life  on  many  sides,  may  be  less  dogmatical 
and  more  liberal ;  in  fine,  that  he  may  be  broad- 
minded,  seeing  things  through  the  magnifying  glass 
of  a  large  and  rich  experience.  But  there  is  always 
danger  of  a  narrow  interpretation  of  what  consti- 
tutes true  interest.  In  many  cases  teachers  ex- 
pend their  entire  thought  upon  the  limited  scope  of 
immediate  interest,  and  that  restricted  to  material 
things.  It  would  seem  sometimes  from  this  state  of 
the  case  as  if  the  whole  work  of  education  were  to 
be  restricted  to  finding  what  will  please  the  child 
and  then  assisting  him  to  gratify  his  present  pro- 
pensities. A  moment's  reflection  will  show  us  how 
utterly  unworthy  this  view  of  education  is.  The  very 
possibility  of  education  itself  lies  in  the  capacity  to 


108  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

take  on  a  new  habit  of  mind,  to  create  new  ideals, 
and  in  them  to  find  the  capacity  for  the  develop- 
ment of  new  powers  of  enjoyment.  With  these  new 
capacities  come  new  possibilities  of  gratification, — 
the  possibilities  of  establishing  new  lines  of  interest. 

The  mark  of  civilization  is  the  power  to  appre- 
ciate and  use  what  can  be  of  no  interest  to  the 
savage.  The  end  of  education  is  not  to  leave  man  a 
gratified  savage,  but  to  develop  him  into  an  enlight- 
ened and  ennobled  human  being.  To  do  this  his 
trend  of  interest  must  be  changed  and  the  range 
of  his  interests  enlarged.  Thus  it  is  not  alone  the 
business  of  the  teacher  to  find  out  what  will  interest 
the  child,  but  rather  to  try  to  interest  him  in  that 
which  is  worthy  of  his  capacities  and  destiny. 
Doubtless  the  process  must  begin  with  present  in- 
terests, but  it  must  surely  terminate  in  the  devel- 
opment of  a  set  of  interests  that  are  worthy  of  an 
exalted  being,  born  in  the  image  of  God  and  de- 
veloped into  a  fitness  for  association  with  noble 
personalities. 

We  must  therefore  look  to  something  more  than 
the  development  of  present  interests;  we  must 
create  new  ones  and  develop  new  capacities  to  ap- 
preciate,—  new  possibilities  of  becoming  interested 
in  whatever  is  worthy  in  every  province  of  human 
life  and  human  endeavor.  This  looks  to  the  devel- 
opment of  what  is  technically  known  as  mediate 


SELF-REVELATION  109 

interest,  that  is,  interest  in  something  which  is  not 
in  itself  gratifying,  but  which  may  be  the  means  of 
obtaining  eventually  a  higher  order  of  satisfaction. 
To  appreciate  this  fully  we  must,  to  some  extent, 
contrast  immediate  and  mediate  interest.  Only 
partial  treatment  of  mediate  interest  will  be  given 
here,  since  it  will  receive  further  notice  in  the 
chapter  on  Self-direction. 

The  kind  of  interest  which  I  have  thus  far  been 
describing  is  immediate,  spontaneous;  it  wells  up 
out  of  the  spirit  like  the  waters  of  a  copious  foun- 
tain ;  it  comes  directly  from  the  gratification  which 
things  give  to  us  personally,  and  centers  itself  upon 
the  things  whose  attributes  cause  it.  The  child  who 
should  live  his  childhood  and  youth  under  the  con- 
trolling force  of  interest  of  this  kind  would  preserve 
his  childlikeness,  his  spontaneity,  his  heartiness,  and 
his  openness  to  the  truth.  He  would  contract  the 
habit  of  giving  his  whole  attention  wherever  his  im- 
mediate interest  might  for  the  moment  lead  him; 
work  to  him  would  have  much  of  the  character  of 
play.  He  might  become  a  great  student  and  even  a 
great  scholar,  but  hardly  a  great  character.  Some- 
thing more  than  the  following  out  of  immediate 
interest  is  needed  to  develop  strength  and  stability 
of  character.  This  immediate  interest  is  supreme  in 
the  childhood  of  a  human  being,  but  it  will  hardly 
serve  as  the  proper  training  for  youth  and  manhood. 


no  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Were  it  the  destiny  of  the  child  always  to  remain 
a  child,  and  were  his  environment  always  what  it 
should  be,  there  could  be  nothing  further  needed 
than  to  develop  intensely  the  line  of  immediate  in- 
terest. Were  there  never  any  vicissitudes  of  life 
requiring  the  exercise  of  higher  virtue  and  stronger 
application  of  will,  there  would  be  less  need  to  de- 
velop interests  of  any  higher  sort.  School  education 
could  then  be  carried  on  by  making  everything  as 
attractive  as  possible,  and  whatever  required  study 
or  effort  could  be  foregone.  It  is  true  that  we 
should  have  no  character;  in  its  place  we  should 
have  only  vegetative  and  animal  life,  —  spontane- 
ous, irrational,  unrestrained  life. 

All  of  us  will  agree  that  manhood  and  woman- 
hood mean  much  more  than  this:  they  mean  the 
development  of  character  and  will,  the  making  of  a 
thoughtful  manly  or  womanly  person  out  of  every 
child.  For  this  we  must  look  to  a  different  kind 
of  interest 

As  has  been  stated  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  chap- 
ter, the  things  in  which  we  may  become  interested 
are  as  numerous  and  diverse  as  are  the  objects  of 
the  outer  world  and  of  the  inner  world.  Not  alone 
do  the  things  of  the  physical  world  serve  to  gratify 
us,  but  the  things  of  the  mind  and  heart  as  well. 
These  classes  of  things  differ  widely  in  one  respect, 
however,  especially  when  viewed  with  reference  to 


SELF-REVELATION  1 1 1 

the  development  of  interest  in  them,  namely,  that 
some  of  them  interest  us  as  ends  in  themselves  be- 
cause we  find  in  them  the  attributes  which  cause 
direct  satisfaction,  while  other  things  are  chiefly  in- 
teresting to  us  because  we  view  them  as  a  means 
toward  an  end  of  even  deeper  satisfaction  and  enjoy- 
ment. It  is  not  strictly  true,  perhaps,  that  we  feel  a 
real  interest  in  these  mediate  things  which  are  used 
as  means ;  we  rather  endure  them  because  they  are 
the  means  to  reach  that  in  which  we  have  a  true 
interest. 

It  is  the  province  of  education  to  transform  this 
endurance  into  genuine  interest  whenever  possible 
(and  desirable),  and  in  any  case  to  reduce  the  degree 
of  repugnance  by  throwing  over  it  a  glory  derived 
from  the  ideal  which  lies  in  the  achievement  at  the 
end.  This  involves,  as  has  been  said,  the  gradual 
transformation  of  the  simple,  innocent,  irrational, 
physically  active,  mentally  volatile  child  into  the  in- 
telligent, rational,  cultivated  person  of  high  ideals  and 
developed  will ;  and  between  these  two  extremes  lies 
the  whole  range  of  our  daily  teaching,  with  its  neces- 
sary devices,  its  temporary  defeats,  its  final  victories, 
much  of  it  unconscious  effort  and  unconscious  tui- 
tion, but  as  a  whole  directed  by  a  more  or  less 
well-understood  philosophy  of  education. 

It  is  true  that  many  teachers  merely  fall  into  line 
with  the  thinking  that  some  one  else  has  put  into 


112  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

courses  of  study  and  plans  of  work.  Even  when  they 
do  their  best  to  carry  out  the  regulations,  it  is  purely 
in  a  mechanical  way.  To  such  teachers  no  philoso- 
phy of  education  appears  either  in  plan  or  method. 
There  is  a  favorite  theory  that  all  that  is  needed  to 
make  the  child  grow  into  a  cultivated  person  is  time ; 
that  the  school  is  simply  a  safe  place  of  detention 
during  the  growing  period.  Without  ignoring  nature 
as  a  factor,  it  is  sufficient  to  notice  that  grown-up 
children  are  not  greatly  superior  to  young  children ; 
and  that  what  we  need  is  a  type  of  man  or  woman 
capable  of  coping  with  the  growing  complexity  of 
modern  life.  Noble  as  nature  is  and  salutary  as  is 
its  effect  upon  the  growing  human  being,  its  best 
results  accrue  only  to  those  who,  besides  obeying 
physical  conditions  and  laws,  live  in  an  environment 
of  institutions,  —  a  spiritual  state  of  exalted  compan- 
ionship with  noble  human  natures,  under  restrictions 
which  are  little  appreciated  and  less  liked  by  the 
uncultivated  man.  In  other  words,  a  course  of  edu- 
cation must  comprise  a  training  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  humanities  and  of  human  institutions,  including 
the  necessity  of  law  and  order  in  the  community, 
and  of  self-control,  none  of  which  things  can  the  sav- 
age man  in  any  fair  sense  appreciate,  and  many  of 
which  are  mere  means  to  higher  ends,  appreciated 
only  by  cultivated  minds  made  sensitive  through  the 
long-continued  process  of  refinement  brought  about 


SELF-REVELATION  1 1 3 

by  culture.  It  is  thus  a  large  part  of  education  to 
acquaint  the  pupil  with  his  spiritual  environment,  — 
the  order  of  civilization  into  which  he  is  born,  —  to 
explain  to  him  the  value  of  the  immense  wealth  of 
his  spiritual  inheritance,  and  thus  to  build  up  within 
him  a  standard  of  life  in  harmony  with  his  nature 
and  destiny. 

To  live  up  to  the  high  standard  of  life  just  de- 
scribed, in  the  midst  of  a  civilization  still  holding 
many  of  the  crudities  and  evils  of  savagery,  requires 
that  each  of  us  shall  daily  do  many  things  which  in 
themselves  are  not  only  not  pleasurable,  but  which 
are  positively  distasteful.  In  and  of  itself  much  of 
our  work  is  pure  drudgery,  while  much  of  it  requires 
us  to  bear  large  responsibilities,  to  endure  petty  an- 
noyances, and  to  do  disagreeable  things.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  we  should  feel  real  interest  in  these  things 
through  the  gratification  of  any  power  of  ours  or 
through  any  original  attribute  of  theirs.  There  is 
therefore  no  motive  to  do  these  things  unless  one 
can  be  found  which  is  so  related  to  these  acts  as  to 
constitute  for  the  time  being  a  valid,  vicarious  inter- 
est. The  end  sought  must  not  only  justify  but  also 
glorify  the  means.  The  contemplation  of  the  ideal 
to  be  achieved  must  give  a  pleasure  akin  to  that  felt 
in  its  actual  attainment,  in  order  that  this  pleasure 
shall  accompany  the  doing  of  the  drudgery,  gliding 
at  last  into  the  glorious  realization  of  the  end  made 


114  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

possible  by  the  dull  drudgery,  till  the  mind  can  no 
longer  distinguish  the  limits  of  each,  and  the  whole 
is  fused  into  one  glorious  sense  of  accomplishment. 
The  transformation  is  complete  when  this  attribute 
—  the  relation  of  means  to  ends  —  has  been  clearly 
seen ;  then  the  means  itself,  though  it  was  at  first 
drudgery,  is  now  loved  for  one  of  its  own  attributes, 
namely,  this  very  capacity  to  achieve  desired  ends. 
Immediate  interest  in  the  means  is  now  developed 
in  place  of  vicarious  or  mediate  interest. 

We  are  supported  and  assisted  in  this  matter  by 
the  influence  of  custom,  habit,  and  wont  upon  our 
physical  organs  and  mental  powers.  Frequent  repe- 
tition sets  the  organs  for  easy  action  in  like  manner 
again,  and  disposes  the  mind  to  offer  less  opposition. 
Automatic  action  frees  the  mind  for  a  fuller  contem- 
plation of  the  ideal,  and  wearies  it  less  with  the  cog- 
nizance of  details.  We  are  also  frequently  pressed 
into  unwelcome  action  by  the  pain  of  present  condi- 
tions. The  hungry  person  strives  to  secure  food,  less 
perhaps  for  the  expected  pleasure  than  from  the  hope 
of  relief  from  present  suffering.  In  any  case  it  is  a 
form  of  the  ideal,  —  always  the  real  motive  in  which 
our  actual  interest  centers,  —  an  ideal  to  be  realized 
only  by  intermediate  steps  which  in  themselves  have 
no  interest  till  it  is  developed  through  the  cognizance 
of  their  value  as  means.  Happy  is  he  who  can  so  live 
that  the  effulgent  glory  of  his  ideal  life  is  thrown 


SELF-REVELATION  1 1 5 

backward  till  it  lights  up  all  the  pathway  of  his  actual 
life.  His  ideal  is  the  magnetic  pole  of  his  existence. 
He  will  drudge  for  ten  hours  a  day,  if  need  be,  so  that 
he  may  found  his  ideal  family  life  and  keep  it  sweet 
and  pure  under  the  shadow  of  his  own  vine  and  fig 
tree.  He  will  march  with  steady  step  to  the  cannon's 
mouth,  at  the  call  of  his  patriotic  ideal,  counting  loss 
of  life  or  limb  as  a  mere  incident  in  the  series  of 
movements  by  which  civil  and  religious  liberty  are 
established.  He  will  counsel  together  with  his  neigh- 
bors, foregoing  his  personal  preferences  to  the  end 
that  the  social  order  may  be  unbroken.  His  interests 
are  so  set  in  the  best  things  that  he  cannot  stoop  to 
the  mean  or  low,  and  the  fine  sense  of  gratification 
coming  from  the  realization  within  himself  of  a  high 
grade  of  manhood  compensates  for  laborious  efforts 
and  frequent  disappointments  in  external  purposes. 
The  perfection  of  culture  is  to  think  clearly,  to  aspire 
nobly,  to  drudge  cheerfully,  to  sympathize  broadly, 
to  decide  righteously,  and  to  perform  ably.  The  un- 
developed child  can  do  none  of  these  things.  The 
undeveloped  germ  of  the  possibility  to  do  these 
things  is  his  by  native  endowment.  The  province  of 
education  lies  between  these  two  extremes.  To  un- 
derstand the  philosophy  of  education  we  must  study 
the  child  as  he  is,  to  get  our  point  of  starting ;  but 
we  must  also  study  the  possibilities  of  man,  as  he 
has  expressed  himself  in  history,  literature,  art,  and 


n6  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

achievement,  or  we  shall  fail  to  get  the  other  point, 
which  sets  our  course  and  gives  direction  to  our 
educational  effort 

In  view  of  the  consideration  thus  far  brought  for- 
ward as  evidences  of  growth  or  development,  it  seems 
appropriate  to  enlarge  a  little  upon  the  higher  ranges 
of  culture  implied  as  possibilities,  but  not  discussed 
in  the  elementary  phases  thus  far  considered.  Initial 
stages  of  growth  imply  but  do  not  always  illustrate 
what  is  possible  at  maturity.  Therefore,  to  study  the 
child  as  he  is  and  to  develop  methods  of  education 
to  suit  his  present  state  or  stage  of  growth,  without 
considering  what  he  may  become,  is  a  great  mistake. 
Before  a  man  can  "  run  the  race  set  before  him  "  to 
the  best  advantage,  the  goal  must,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  be  known.  Before  he  can  even  start,  advan- 
tageously, the  main  direction  toward  the  goal  must 
be  known.  So,  in  education,  child  study  has  done 
well  to  fix  the  starting  place ;  but  the  goal,  that  is, 
the  final  or  highest  aim  in  education,  can  be  seen 
only  by  those  who  give  attention  to  the  later  stages 
of  man's  development  What  man  may  do  and 
become  when  he  has  grown  to  maturity  and  has 
developed  his  powers,  has  become  enlightened  and 
has  learned  to  cooperate  with  his  fellows,  is  of  equal 
importance  with  the  facts  of  his  life  as  a  child.  His 
power  to  create  literature  and  art,  to  formulate 
sciences,  to  build  beneficent  institutions,  and  to 


SELF-REVELATION  1 1 7 

share  in  the  reflex  influences  for  good  to  himself 
which  flow  to  him  through  his  participation  in  insti- 
tutional life,  —  all  these  things  must  be  taken  into 
account  as  indicating  the  final  goal  of  educational 
effort.  Thus  it  is  that  one  who  would  fully  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  education,  that  is,  the  nature 
and  method  of  education,  must  be  willing  to  con- 
sider questions  usually  included  in  social  and  political 
economy,  history,  science,  art,  religion,  and  philosophy. 

The  finest  figure  of  speech  in  all  literature,  it  seems 
to  me,  representing  this  possible  unlikeness  of  results 
to  beginnings  in  growth,  is  that  used  in  Mark  iv, 
"  First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full 
corn  in  the  ear."  Who  is  there,  seeing  only  the  corn 
in  its  blade  stage,  would  ever  dare  predict  the  golden 
grain  of  maturity?  Only  those  who  have  carefully 
observed  every  stage  of  growth,  and  who  have,  by 
reflection  on  the  information  thus  obtained,  discov- 
ered something  of  the  law  of  development,  are  able 
in  new  cases  to  predict  the  kind  of  grain,  when  as 
yet  only  the  leaf  or  blade  is  visible.  The  ultimate 
standard  of  education,  therefore,  can  be  determined 
properly  only  after  a  study  of  man's  higher  possibil- 
ities and  achievements. 

Nor  is  it  any  excuse  that  these  final  aims  of  edu- 
cation are  difficult  to  determine.  Our  attempts  to 
find  out  and  record  for  use  the  true  nature  of  man 
as  an  educable  being  are  not  necessarily  a  failure 


u8  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

because  we  cannot  know  all  about  man,  nor  because 
as  yet  we  are  unable  to  prove  logically  all  our  beliefs. 
Our  knowledge  is  incomplete  rather  than  necessarily 
wrong.  A  light  but  dimly  seen  is  better  than  total 
darkness,  provided,  of  course,  that  the  light,  dim  as 
it  is,  shows  the  direction  toward  the  goal.  No  one, 
however,  is  free  to  follow  a  dim  light  when  a  brighter 
and  better  one  may  reasonably  be  had. 

These  facts  are,  it  seems  to  me,  a  sufficient  justi- 
fication for  continuing  the  study  of  man's  higher 
nature  in  attempts  to  discover  something  of  his  des- 
tiny. Only  thus  can  we  devise  methods  of  education 
which  shall  assist  him  to  realize  his  higher  possibili- 
ties. It  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  educational 
methods,  based  on  low  ideals  of  man's  nature  and 
possibilities,  which  often  result  in  arrested  develop- 
ment. Many  immediate  ends  of  education  (for  ex- 
ample, industrial  education  in  the  trades)  are  right 
if  they  be  understood  as  belonging  to  the  immature 
stage  of  development,  but  they  become  wrong  if 
regarded  as  finalities  in  themselves  rather  than  as 
tools  for  use  in  further  or  higher  development 

At  first  these  final  or  higher  standards  of  educa- 
tion seem  unrelated  to  the  topic  of  the  growing  self- 
revelation  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  but  a 
few  considerations  will,  I  think,  show  the  close  con- 
nection and  the  important  relation.  To  begin  with, 
an  appreciation  of  these  higher  capacities  comes  to 


SELF-REVELATION  1 1 9 

one,  if  at  all,  through  introspection  of  one's  self  and 
observation  upon  others,  with  consequent  reflection  ; 
and  each  attempted  observation,  and  each  conclusion 
or  reflection,  is  validated  in  consciousness  in  its  very 
cognition  or  recognition.  So  soon  as  the  student 
appropriates  these  higher  possibilities  as  Ms  own, 
they  are  seen  to  be  related  to  him  in  a  self-helpful 
way;  and  so  they  are  a  part  of  the  culture  implied 
in  widening  self-knowledge,  that  is,  self-conscious- 
ness, —  the  capacity  which  marks  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  the  individual.  The  professional  teacher, 
therefore,  must  ponder  these  capacities  which  he 
himself  feels,  and  which  are  capable  of  revelation  to 
pupils,  as  a  valid  part  of  his  study  of  educational 
standards.  When  thus  thoughtfully  reviewed,  self- 
consciousness  in  a  cultivated,  mature  teacher  reveals 
the  standards  toward  which  he  must  ever  guide  his 
pupils.  The  teacher  who  sees  the  highest  individual 
development  as  a  possible  achievement  in  each  and 
all  will  never  be  wholly  satisfied  to  teach  in  accord- 
ance with  lower  ideals. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  I  commented  on  the  recent 
tendency  of  physiologists  to  call  themselves  psychol- 
ogists. Curiously  enough,  they  seem  to  have  been 
led  to  assume  this  name  because,  as  they  assert, 
there  is  no  psychology  (that  is,  no  science  of  the 
spiritual  life),  but  only  physiology  (science  of  the  physi- 
cal life).  The  more  reasonable  procedure  would  have 


120  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

been  to  deny  the  realm  of  psychology,  if  that  seemed 
an  essential  step,  but  still  to  retain  the  name  "  physi- 
ologist "  as  representing  the  only  phase  in  the  study 
of  man  that  they  consider  valid.  The  paradoxical 
nature  of  their  position  seems  to  me  to  consist  in 
first  claiming  to  have  demolished  completely  the 
whole  structure  of  psychology,  and  then  wishing  to 
be  known  as  physiological  psychologists. 

Within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  a  still  more 
absurd  attitude  has  been  assumed  by  a  class  of  physi- 
cists toward  the  more  fundamental  conceptions  of 
philosophy,  which  they  have  declared  nonexistent. 
The  physicists  cover  the  same  ground  as  former 
philosophies  covered,  but  introduce  new  tests  for 
truth,  —  the  tests  applied  in  laboratories  for  the  facts 
of  material  science.  This  attempt  to  apply  physical 
tests  to  spiritual  facts  results  in  ludicrous  distortions 
of  the  truth.  Perhaps  the  most  ludicrous  example 
of  these  is  the  attempt  to  apply  physical  tests  to 
consciousness,  thereby  apparently  proving  that  psy- 
chology and  philosophy  are  not  valid  because  con- 
sciousness, on  which  their  facts  are  based,  is  not 
reliable.  But  if  the  physicist  would  but  take  notice 
of  the  origin  of  those  established  facts  in  the  physi- 
cal sciences  to  which  he  has  successfully  applied  his 
laboratory  tests  of  counting,  weighing,  and  measur- 
ing, he  would  discover  that  all  of  them  were  first 
validated  in  his  own  consciousness;  else  how  did 


SELF-REVELATION  1 2 1 

they  get  into  his  laboratory?  It  seems  to  me  that 
should  such  a  scientist  succeed  in  proving  that  con- 
sciousness is  not  reliable  because  it  does  not  submit 
itself  to  his  physical  tests,  he  would  prove  far  too 
much  for  his  own  comfort.  He  is  like  the  small  boy, 
who,  intent  on  destroying  the  beauty  of  a  fine  tree, 
determined  to  saw  off  its  most  conspicuous  branch. 
He  did  so,  but  he  made  the  mistake  of  sawing  off  the 
branch  between  himself  and  the  tree.  He  disfigured 
the  tree  somewhat,  it  is  true,  but  his  own  personal 
appearance  was  not  improved  by  the  incident. 

In  all  this  discussion  of  self-revelation  there  is 
always  the  implication  of  a  self  who  becomes  con- 
scious of  his  own  experiences  and  thus  makes  valid 
his  growing  knowledge.  Scientists  have  attacked 
the  validity  of  this  conception  of  self,  saying  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  self  or  entity.  It  is  stated, 
first,  that  consciousness  does  not  affirm  a  self;  and 
second,  that  if  it  did,  it  would  not  do  to  trust  the 
verdict,  since  consciousness  is  not  reliable.  The 
second  of  these  contentions  has,  it  seems  to  me, 
been  sufficiently  answered  by  showing  that  the  sci- 
entist is  inconsistent  in  claiming  validity  for  his 
knowledge  of  the  material  world,  which  is  just  as 
necessarily  validated  in  consciousness  as  is  knowl- 
edge of  spiritual  facts.  That  is,  facts  of  science  are 
equally  dependent  with  spiritual  facts  upon  con- 
sciousness for  their  proof  of  validity.  But  the  first 


122  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

statement  needs  further  consideration.  Doubtless, 
technically,  there  is  truth  in  the  statement,  since  a 
person  cannot  be  conscious  of  anything  except  his 
own  condition.  He  cannot,  in  this  strict  sense,  be 
conscious  of  any  fact  of  science,  but  only  of  his  con- 
dition or  experience  in  the  knowing  of  the  fact.  So 
the  scientist  is  in  the  same  difficulty  in  getting  a 
start  with  his  knowledge  of  physical  facts  as  is  the 
psychologist  in  getting  a  start  with  his  knowledge 
of  the  self.  But  the  important  fact  in  the  case  is 
that  consciousness,  in  registering  an  experience, 
always  registers  it  as  my  experience.  Consider  this 
fact  a  moment. 

Were  you  ever  left  in  doubt  as  to  whose  experi- 
ences appear  in  your  consciousness  ?  Does  not  con- 
sciousness affirm  them  to  beyour  experiences  ?  Even 
the  scientist  cannot  interpret  sensations  except  as 
he  knows  them  to  be  his  own,  and  he  constantly 
asserts  that  he  has  discovered  this  or  that,  still 
affirming  the  entity  as  the  thinking  agent.  Precisely 
what  consciousness  does  show  me  is  my  experience, 
and  that  it  is  my  experience.  From  this  point  to  the 
affirmation  of  the  spiritual  entity  that  possesses  the 
experience  is  but  a  single  step  in  reasoning,  which 
everybody  takes,  just  as  Descartes  did;  so  that  it 
is  common  to  speak  (as  a  mere  figure  of  speech)  as 
if  it  were  directly  shown  in  consciousness.  The  fact 
that  everybody  takes  this  step  in  reasoning  is  shown 


SELF-REVELATION  123 

by  the  presence  in  all  languages  of  the  personal 
pronoun  in  the  first  person.  From  this  universal 
reliance  on  consciousness  as  the  fundamental  means 
of  knowing  anything,  the  scientist  moves  to  the 
external  world,  studying  it  in  accordance  with  the 
universal  laws  of  thought  and  the  special  laws  of 
matter ;  the  psychologist  pursues  the  study  of  men- 
tal phenomena  in  accordance  with  the  universal 
laws  of  thought  and  the  special  laws  of  spirit;  and 
each  is  entitled  to  be  judged  by  persons  versed  in 
the  special  laws  of  the  special  subject  as  well  as 
in  the  universal  laws  of  thought  applicable  to  all 
provinces. 

The  scientist  passes  quickly  from  the  considera- 
tion of  sensations  to  that  part  of  the  subject  in  which 
the  special  laws  of  investigation  are  counting,  meas- 
uring, weighing;  and  he  soon  becomes  fascinated 
with  the  accuracy  of  these  tests.  His  attention  is 
easily  absorbed  by  the  special  laws  —  those  domi- 
nant in  the  details  of  scientific  study  —  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  those  universal  laws  of  thought  which 
condition  all  knowledge.  He  is  prone  to  forget  that 
the  superstructure,  however  well  built,  is  in  the  end 
no  safer  than  the  weakest  place  in  its  foundation. 
The  man  who  built  his  house  on  the  sands  may  have 
built  as  good  a  house  as  did  the  man  who  founded 
his  upon  a  rock,  but  the  outcome  was  different  in 
the  two  cases. 


EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

The  brilliant  discoveries  of  modern  science  dazzle 
us  by  their  splendor  and  amaze  us  by  their  practical 
value;  but  if  natural  science  has  any  place  in  the 
curriculum  of  the  school,  it  is  not  for  either  of  these 
reasons  chiefly,  but  rather  because  the  truths  involved 
in  these  discoveries  profoundly  affect  human  experi- 
ence. For  this  reason  they  do  have  a  place  in  the 
curriculum  of  the  school,  as  no  well-informed  person 
will  deny,  —  least  of  all  the  psychologist,  who  under- 
stands how  valid  and  final  are  these  conclusions,  as 
vouched  for  by  consciousness.  It  is  not  his  place  to 
doubt  or  even  neglect  the  discoveries  of  the  scien- 
tists. He  knows  that  their  conclusions,  so  far  as 
they  are  valid,  must  harmonize  with  his  own  dis- 
coveries or  displace  them.  He  knows  well  that  when 
there  is  a  conflict,  the  best-supported  conclusion 
must  be  accepted  till  a  better  one  than  either  is 
found ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  remembers  that  the 
scientist,  when  he  has  reached  higher  ground  and 
has  expressed  his  conclusion  in  a  more  highly  gen- 
eralized form,  himself  sees  harmony  where  before  he 
proclaimed  conflict;  as  witness  the  numerous  cor- 
rections which  scientists  have  had  to  make  as  a  con- 
sequence of  new  discoveries.  The  scientist  should 
be  the  humblest  of  men,  considering  the  number  of 
times  he  has  overthrown  his  own  so-called  finalities. 
So,  meanwhile,  the  psychologist  re-tests  his  own  con- 
clusions and  bides  his  time  till  the  scientist  shall 


SELF-REVELATION  125 

have  more  fully  perfected  his  researches.  The  psy- 
chologist is  not  disposed  to  call  the  previous  state- 
ment of  the  scientist  an  error,  but  rather  to  think  of 
it  as  partial  knowledge ;  and  he  looks  forward  to  the 
time  when  the  full  circle  of  scientific  truth  shall  be 
seen  instead  of  the  small  arc  which  alone  is  now 
visible. 

The  psychologist  is  usually  more  tolerant  of  the 
conclusions  of  the  scientist  than  the  latter  is  in  ref- 
erence to  the  beliefs  of  the  former ;  yet  the  psychol- 
ogist may  well  insist  that  he  has  as  much  right  to 
his  belief  as  has  the  scientist  to  his,  when  the  sub- 
ject of  inquiry  is  one  which  is  subject  only  to  the 
universal  laws  of  thought,  or  to  special  laws  applica- 
ble in  the  sphere  of  spirit.  For  instance,  a  recent 
scientist  has  asserted  that  science  has  discovered 
that  the  living  reaction  in  any  one-celled  animal  is 
the  same  in  kind  as  that  in  a  single  cell  of  the  human 
brain ;  and  that  inasmuch  as  a  higher  and  higher 
grade  of  reaction  has  been  reached  by  evolution 
through  infinitesimal  steps  of  progress,  there  can  be 
no  place  between  the  life  force  of  the  amceba  and 
that  of  the  human  being  where  there  is  any  change 
in  kind ;  and  that,  therefore,  if  the  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  the  human  being  is  an  entity,  then  in  the 
amceba  also  the  life  force  must  be  an  entity,  instead 
of  being,  as  the  scientist  maintains,  only  an  attribute 
of  the  amoeba.  The  final  conclusion,  therefore,  was 


126  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

that  the  something  which  the  psychologist  calls  the 
human  spirit  is,  after  all,  only  a  property  or  mani- 
festation, and  not  an  entity. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  argument  is  falla- 
cious for  two  reasons :  first,  the  mode  of  reasoning  by 
which  the  conclusion  is  established  violates  the  very 
laws  which  operate  in  the  province  of  natural  science ; 
and  second,  it  also  violates  the  laws  which  domi- 
nate in  the  province  of  spirit.  As  to  the  first,  it  was 
contended  in  the  argument  that  since  it  cannot  be 
shown  at  what  particular  degree  of  development  the 
energy  found  in  an  amoeba  changes  into  self-con- 
sciousness, no  such  change  can  have  taken  place. 
The  fallacy  in  this  reasoning  is  evident  when  we 
remember  that  changes  in  kind  quite  as  great  as 
are  here  supposed,  are  constantly  occurring  in  natu- 
ral science.  For  instance,  a  chemist  takes  a  few 
atoms  of  hydrogen  and  a  few  atoms  of  oxygen,  in 
certain  proportions,  and  puts  them  first  into  physi- 
cal relations.  In  these  relations  each  of  these  ele- 
ments manifests  its  own  properties.  The  chemist 
then  changes  conditions  so  that  the  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  unite  chemically.  So  far  as  the  chemist  is 
yet  able  to  report,  there  have  been  three  kinds  of 
change  of  infinitesimal  degrees :  namely  (i)  a  change 
in  distance,  the  atoms  of  each  substance  approach- 
ing those  of  the  other  until  they  come  within  insen- 
sible distances ;  (2)  a  change  of  position  among  the 


SELF-REVELATION  127 

atoms  of  the  two  substances ;  and  (3)  a  loss  or  gain 
of  energy.  But  the  chemist  admits  that  he  now  has 
a  new  substance  with  properties  unlike  the  proper- 
ties of  either  oxygen  or  hydrogen.  He  accepts  this 
new  substance  as  different  in  kind  from  the  ele- 
ments of  which  it  is  composed,  because  it  manifests 
different  properties.  He  does  not  affirm  that  it  can- 
not be  a  new  substance  because  the  changes  by 
which  it  was  produced  from  oxygen  and  hydrogen 
were  of  infinitesimal  degrees.  He  does  not  feel  com- 
pelled to  say  at  what  particular  one  of  these  infini- 
tesimal degrees  the  new  substance  was  formed;  it 
is  enough  that  the  new  substance  is  found  to  be 
new  by  chemical  tests. 

Now,  as  to  the  second  reason,  the  psychologist 
accepts  the  scientist's  statement  that  the  life  force 
in  the  amoeba  is  unconscious,  or  that  it  has  not  yet 
been  proved  to  be  conscious ;  but  the  psychologist's 
consciousness  affirms  the  human  spirit  to  be  self- 
conscious.  If  it  came  from  the  amoeba  through  in- 
finitesimal degrees  in  the  development  of  evolution, 
he  does  not  feel  compelled  to  name  the  degree  at 
which  the  change  into  self-consciousness  took  place. 
He  tests  the  result  by  spiritual  tests,  just  as  the 
chemist  tests  his  result  by  chemical  tests. 

I  have  already  shown  that  all  knowledge  must  be 
referred  to  consciousness  for  its  validity;  also  that 
consciousness  reveals  my  mental  experiences  and 


128  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

affirms  them  to  be  mine ;  but  it  also  reveals  much 
more  than  this.  While  consciousness  does  not  directly 
reveal  a  self  as  an  entity,  it  does  something  else 
quite  as  important,  —  it  reveals  directly  the  exact 
nature  and  much  of  the  significance  of  our  conscious 
experiences.  It  is  in  these  revelations,  through  con- 
sciousness, that  the  educator  must  find  valid  ground 
for  the  construction  of  a  correct  and  helpful  theory 
of  education.  This  theory  will  be  seen  to  be  grounded 
in  the  nature  of  the  being  to  be  educated,  and  it 
will  take  note  of  the  relationship  of  this  being  to 
all  phases  of  thought,  feeling,  and  action;  thus  it- 
will  range  for  its  subject  matter,  as  I  have  already 
said,  through  the  provinces  of  art,  science,  litera- 
ture, history  and  sociology,  religion  and  philosophy. 
Every  teacher  whose  self-consciousness  has  been  thus 
awakened  to  his  own  possibilities  in  these  higher 
fields  of  human  experience  will  try  to  reveal  to  his 
pupils  some  vision  of  this  wider  range  of  human  life, 
even  while  teaching  the  most  elementary  subjects. 

I  have  previously  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  ideals  or  aims  of  education,  to  be  in  any  sense 
final,  or  even  in  any  high  degree  authoritative,  must 
take  into  account  all  possible  achievements  of  man 
in  his  higher  spiritual  capacity,  as  involved  in  insti- 
tutional life ;  and  that  the  school  studies  which  refer 
to  this  phase  of  man's  nature  take  a  wide  range, 
including  especially  art,  literature,  history,  economics 


SELF-REVELATION  1 29 

(social  and  political),  philosophy,  and  religion.  In 
recent  years  development  in  the  physical  and  natu- 
ral sciences  and  their  applications  seems  to  have 
outrun  or  somewhat  overshadowed  development 
along  those  lines  more  definitely  founded  on  the 
spiritual  experiences  of  the  human  race.  There  are 
doubtless  good  reasons  for  the  present  supremacy 
of  the  physical  sciences,  not  merely  because  of  the 
strong  appeal  which  these  branches  have  made 
through  their  industrial  and  commercial  application, 
but  because  of  the  accurate  and  systematized  think- 
ing which  such  study  demands.  This  attitude  does 
not,  however,  release  the  teacher  from  the  obligation 
to  reveal  to  pupils  their  own  spiritual  possibilities. 
In  its  organized  aspects  the  complete  revelation  can 
occur  only  to  the  university  student,  but  in  its  more 
elementary  forms  it  may  begin  in  the  kindergarten 
or  the  primary  grades.  It  has  seemed  proper,  there- 
fore, to  discuss  here  more  fully  than  has  been  done 
hitherto  the  exact  nature  of  these  higher  capabilities 
and  their  consequent  possible  achievements,  to  the 
end  that  the  teacher  may  see  how  the  humanities 
are  of  slow  development  but  of  supreme  importance 
in  the  self-revelation  to  the  child  of  his  own  nature 
and  capabilities. 

In  opening  up  this  subject  more  fully,  it  is  to  be 
noted  at  once  that  many  experiences  of  life  cannot 
be  defined  or  even  described  perfectly  to  persons 


1 30  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

who  have  not  lived  through  them.  All  human  ex- 
periences, no  matter  how  diversified,  are  the  actual 
blendings  of  the  activities  of  knowing  (in  some  of  its 
various  forms),  of  feeling  (in  some  of  its  numerous 
variations),  and  of  willing  (in  some  of  its  aspects); 
but  the  relationship  or  ratio  of  these  elements  is  a 
shifting  factor,  now  more  and  now  less  of  one  or  an- 
other factor;  or  now  one  and  now  another  variety 
of  each.  The  complexities  of  human  life  or  human 
experience  are  made  possible  by  the  varying  ratios 
and  shifting  varieties  of  these  three  fundamental 
elements  of  mental  or  spiritual  experience.  No  one 
of  these  strands  of  human  experience  is  ever  wholly 
separate  from  the  others,  even  in  its  vaguest  degrees, 
or  even  wholly  distinguishable  from  the  other  two. 
However,  one  of  them  may  exist  in  such  violent  de- 
gree in  connection  with  such  slight  degrees  of  the 
others  as  to  seem  for  the  moment  separate  and  dis- 
tinct, or  as  to  seem  to  be  for  the  time  the  only  element 
in  the  experience.  In  such  case,  however,  a  close  ex- 
amination will  always-  disclose  the  presence  of  the 
others  in  lower  or  higher  degree.  The  dominance 
of  one  such  line  or  kind  of  experience  has  given 
separate  names  to  mental  processes  that  are  really 
complex,  though  for  the  moment  they  seem  to  be 
simple  and  separate.  In  some  cases  these  different 
names  for  different  states  are  sufficiently  clear  for 
ordinary  description ;  but,  by  the  nature  of  the  case, 


SELF-REVELATION  131 

kinds  and  degrees  are  so  lacking  in  definiteness  as 
to  leave  large  place  for  misunderstanding  and  full 
opportunity  for  argument  and  discussion. 

Moods  dominated  by  thought  (or  knowing)  in 
some  of  its  forms  are  most  exact  in  their  character- 
istics and  limits,  and  are  therefore  most  frequently 
noted  and  most  readily  comprehended.  They  are 
easily  analyzed  and  described,  and  admit  of  the 
application  of  definite  terms  to  an  extent  utterly  im- 
possible with  moods  dominated  by  feeling  or  action. 
Though  it  has  always  been  possible,  therefore,  for 
students  of  mathematics  and  natural  science  to  reach 
substantial  agreements  as  to  facts  and  their  mean- 
ing, artists,  philosophers,  and  theologians,  as  well  as 
men  of  action,  have  often  lacked  a  common  standard ; 
for  science  has  always  been  more  definite  than  art, 
religion,  ethics,  and  history.  Furthermore,  objects  of 
knowledge  were,  first  of  all,  natural  or  external  or 
material  things,  whether  in  the  individual  or  in  the 
race;  so  knowledge  by  the  senses  came  early  in 
human  experience,  as  it  does  now  in  the  individual 
experience  of  the  child. 

The  first  words  were  applied  to  material  objects,  in 
all  languages.  In  many  other  and  later  departments 
of  human  experience,  instead  of  inventing  new  ele- 
ments of  language,  as  we  doubtless  should  have 
done  if  these  experiences  had  been  definitive  in  char- 
acter, we  still  speak  of  them  metaphorically  in  the 


1 32  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

language  orginally  applied  to  external  matters.  Re- 
garding many  varieties  of  deep  human  experience 
we  yet  must  speak  in  parables  or  by  means  of  anal- 
ogies. Throughout  the  wide  range  of  religious  ex- 
perience, and  in  spiritual  things  generally,  the  very 
complexity  of  human  activities,  together  with  the 
shifting  ratios  of  thought  and  feeling,  has  often  dis- 
turbed inquiries  after  the  truth.  In  thought,  also, 
especially  in  the  act  of  the  mind  as  it  passes  from 
the  premises  to  the  conclusion,  one  has  been  obliged 
to  concede  the  premises  as  being  vague  in  limits 
and  undetermined  to  some  extent  in  their  content. 
In  no  one  thing,  perhaps,  has  this  striking  peculiar- 
ity of  human  experience  been  more  marked  than  in 
the  study  of  that  phase  of  human  life  involved  in  the 
experience  known  by  the  term  "  faith."  This  has  been 
thought  of  in  many  cases  as  being  purely  a  matter 
of  feeling,  and  has  thus  been  greatly  discredited  by 
devotees  of  scientific  thought.  The  mathematician, 
for  instance,  has  never  granted  a  definite  place  in  his 
calculations  to  this  idea  of  faith,  because  the  experi- 
ences involved  in  it  do  not  lend  themselves  easily  to 
mathematical  computations.  The  scientist  has  even 
denied  the  validity  of  faith  as  a  shaping  instrument 
of  human  aspirations,  because  he  too  has  become  in- 
fatuated with  the  thought  of  experiments,  especially 
in  their  mathematical  forms  of  computation.  In 
these  later  days  mathematics  and  natural  science 


SELF-REVELATION  1 33 

have  seemingly  formed  a  compact  or  a  close  corpo- 
ration, since  the  field  of  science  has  proved  the  best 
application  for  the  abstract  science  of  space  and 
number.  The  fact  is  that  faith  is  not  wholly  feeling, 
but  is  a  complex  of  thought,  feeling,  and  will,  feeling 
being  perhaps  for  the  moment  dominant,  and  will 
being  as  nearly  passive  as  that  experience  may  ever 
be.  But  the  true  nature  of  faith  will  never  be  under- 
stood except  when  one  appreciates  that  it  is  merely 
an  extension  of  thought  transformed  into  feeling 
and  tinctured  with  will;  and  therefore  that  faith 
never  arises  without  having  been  preceded  by  special 
thought. 

It  is  perhaps  well  to  notice  that  in  all  the  regions 
of  inquiry  where  thought  itself  cannot  go,  except  by 
slow  and  painful  advances,  the  human  spirit  still  in- 
quires and  wonders  and  investigates.  The  confi- 
dence begotten  in  scientific  laws,  through  our  study 
of  them  in  determinate  provinces,  easily  leads  one  to 
extend  them  beyond  the  realm  of  thinking  experi- 
ence, resulting  in  certain  experiences  of  confidence 
or  conclusive  belief  which  are  of  the  exact  nature  of 
faith.  In  so  far  as  this  faith  is  mere  confidence,  it  is 
feeling ;  but  in  so  far  as  it  is  related  to  the  operation 
of  law  and  is  the  conclusion  of  reasoning,  it  is  intel- 
lectual in  its  nature;  and  in  so  far  as  it  directs 
aspirations  and  controls  action,  it  is  of  the  nature 
of  will. 


I34  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

No  more  remarkable  application  in  any  province 
of  thought  for  this  peculiar  form  of  human  effort, 
resulting  in  the  transformation  of  thought  into  feel- 
ing and  will,  is  perhaps  known  than  that  involved  in 
one's  belief  in  the  universality  of  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. The  intellectual  comprehension  of  the  facts  of 
gravitation  and  of  the  law  governing  this  force  is 
precedent  to  the  belief  in  its  universality;  that  is, 
there  is  some  quality  in  this  law,  some  peculiarity  in 
its  nature,  that  operates  in  the  human  soul  to  create 
an  experience  which  begins  in  reasoning  but  ends 
in  a  wholly  indemonstrable  belief.  The  scientist  him- 
self in  this,  his  own  province,  yields  to  the  confident 
belief,  because  of  the  singularly  convincing  character 
of  the  knowledge  out  of  which  it  has  grown,  though 
he  recognizes  perfectly  the  utter  impossibility,  by  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  of  gathering  data  which  hold 
in  them  the  force  of  the  conclusion.  He  is  com- 
pelled to  believe,  not  by  the  nature  of  the  facts  ad- 
duced, but  by  the  nature  of  the  law  or  principle 
which  seems  to  be  operative  among  the  facts  them- 
selves. Men  have  gathered  in  this  instance  enough 
of  the  facts  to  suggest  to  them  the  law  itself.  They 
have  then  tested  the  law  in  numerous  instances.  But 
the  scientist  is  just  as  certain  of  his  conclusion  with 
respect  to  the  instances  not  yet  summoned  as  he  is 
with  respect  to  those  in  which  he  has  actually  found 
the  law  illustrated  and  supported.  This  sort  of 


SELF-REVELATION  1 35 

reasoning  and  this  sort  of  conclusion  are  not  of  the 
kind  especially  prevalent  in  mathematics  or  in  con- 
crete science.  The  conclusion  rests  rather  on  a  form 
of  probable  reasoning,  but,  in  the  instance  cited,  a 
form  of  probable  reasoning  which  transforms  the 
element  of  probability  into  the  element  of  certainty 
in  the  conclusion. 

No  more  striking  instance  can  be  offered  of  the 
exercise  of  faith  by  reason  of  the  lack  of  doubt  in 
the  conclusion.  The  same  man  who,  as  a  scientist, 
gives  himself  up  wholly  to  the  force  of  such  reason- 
ing, may  have  no  similar  feeling  of  faith  in  many 
practical  and  religious  questions  merely  because  he 
has  never  studied  the  facts  on  which  such  conclu- 
sions are  based.  If  one  has  not  studied  carefully 
enough  to  have  seen  with  full  vision  the  compulsion 
which  lies  in  these  facts  and  in  the  laws  which  they 
obey,  one  cannot  get  the  force  of  compulsion  in  the 
conclusion.  One  must  deeply  and  definitely  have 
lived  these  experiences  through,  and  must  have 
tested  their  meaning  in  one's  own  consciousness. 
Neither  will  one  get  such  confidence  in  probable 
reasoning  until  one  has  long  practiced  it  and  has 
learned  to  detect  the  fallacies  which  so  easily  enter 
into  it  through  mistakes  in  the  premises  on  which 
it  is  founded. 

Now  a  great  many  people  have  never  studied  them- 
selves. As  children  they  had  profound  experiences 


136  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

in  sensations.  These  experiences  soon  led  them 
to  certain  conclusions  with  regard  to  the  exter- 
nal world.  In  these  same  years  they  were  having 
inner  experiences  in  the  thoughts  and  emotions 
belonging  to  the  inner  life;  but  the  volatility  of 
childhood  is  not  conducive  to  profound  meditation 
on  spiritual  things.  The  child  is  easily  led  away  to 
more  practical  experiments  on  material  things.  Soon 
the  young  student  is  taken  into  the  laboratory  where 
definite  experimentation  is  made  upon  the  outer 
rims  of  his  sensational  experiences ;  and  having  his 
time  occupied  with  this  line  of  work  and  the  mathe- 
matical studies  and  computations  induced  thereby, 
he  grows  a  one-sided  individual  unless  his  teachers 
—  parents  and  school-teachers  in  the  institutional 
life  —  take  occasion  to  excite  his  interest  in  the 
things  which  cannot  be  tested  in  physical  labora- 
tories. He  needs  to  be  led  to  feel  not  sensations 
alone,  but  emotions  as  well ;  and  to  have  aspirations, 
and  to  contemplate  ends  and  achievements  of  a 
social  nature.  He  needs  to  have  his  power  to  reason 
exercised  constantly  in  that  sort  of  probable  reason- 
ing on  which  the  great  issues  of  his  inner  life  rest. 
If  a  person  will  give  in  this  way  definite  attention 
to  the  study  of  his  own  nature,  especially  to  his 
emotions,  his  volitions,  his  aspirations,  and  his  hopes, 
he  will  soon  come  to  have  a  large  body  of  intuitive 
information  which  is  just  as  valid  as  the  same  kind 


SELF-REVELATION  1 37 

of  information,  regarding  sensations,  from  which  we 
start  in  all  experimentation  in  science.  Intensely  in- 
teresting as  this  sort  of  thinking  is  when  once  a 
person  has  mastered  its  elements,  it  does  not  attract 
the  child  as  do  those  more  demonstrative  appeals 
through  the  senses.  And  reasoning  by  probability 
rarely  gives  to  young  people  full  confidence  in  con- 
clusions, because  they  are  as  yet  unable  to  determine 
the  full  nature  of  the  inner  experience  out  of  which 
this  reasoning  grows. 

Another  reason  why  people  do  not  believe  more 
fully  in  the  uncertain  and  undemonstrated  is  because 
they  have  never  fully  distinguished  between  the 
force  of  positive  as  against  negative  evidence.  In 
things  which  may  be  seen  or  handled  or  proved 
by  physical  experiment,  one  easily  leaps  over  small 
gaps  in  reasoning,  and  believes;  but  in  more  dis- 
tinctly spiritual  experiences  these  intuitions  are  hard 
to  get  unless  one  is  a  close  student  of  himself; 
and  where  the  evidence  requires  a  fine  discrimina- 
tion of  spiritual  qualities,  the  mind  easily  becomes 
clogged  with  negative  forms  which  block  the  way  to 
belief.  This  is  especially  true  with  regard  to  the 
facts  of  the  inner  life.  For  instance,  many  people 
say  they  have  no  such  experiences  as  other  people 
describe ;  and,  in  fact,  they  have  not,  chiefly  because 
they  have  not  made  the  required  effort.  They  do 
not  study  themselves,  nor  move  themselves  to  a 


1 38  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

plane  high  enough  to  gain  knowledge  in  this  way, 
and  on  this  negative  evidence  they  base  their  belief 
that  there  are  no  such  experiences.  The  positive 
evidence  of  one  actual  experience  is  worth  all  the 
negative  evidence  that  the  ages  could  produce.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  progress  in  the  finer  elements 
of  human  living  must  wait  on  the  poet,  the  prophet, 
and  the  seer. 

It  is  evident  that  the  only  way  to  find  out  about 
yourself  is  to  study  yourself.  This  must  be  done 
through  intuition.  In  other  words,  you  must  make 
a  direct  study  of  what  you  find  yourself  to  be 
doing.  If  you  find  yourself  loving  or  hating  the 
ignoble  or  the  noble;  if  you  find  yourself  longing 
for  all  good  things  and  embodying  the  good  in 
action ;  or  if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  find  yourself  in 
the  grasp  of  wickedness,  you  are  really  getting  at 
the  question  of  your  own  possibilities  and  your  own 
true  nature;  and  out  of  it  all  you  should  seek  to 
discover  something  at  least  of  the  possibilities  of 
your  higher  life  and  of  the  nature  of  the  eternal 
progress  toward  perfection. 

It  is  this  very  capacity  for  perfection  that  makes 
temptation  possible.  Moral  evil  does  not  exist  as  a 
thing  in  itself,  but  is  always  involved  in  some  ques- 
tion of  human  action.  The  human  being  holds  within 
himself  a  partial  revelation  of  his  capacities,  and 
these  capacities  at  once  show  his  possible  grades  of 


SELF-REVELATION  1 39 

achievement,  according  as  he  exerts  himself  with 
more  or  less  energy.  He  gratifies  this  or  that  capac- 
ity, he  finds  certain  facts  in  self-revelation  as  a  result 
of  such  action,  and  little  by  little  there  develop  in 
him  the  first  elements  of  a  standard  of  conduct.  No 
matter  how  elementary  this  standard  may  be,  it 
makes  its  appeal  to  him,  so  that  a  certain  spiritual 
satisfaction  results  from  conforming  to  it,  and  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  remorse  attends  any  failure  in  realiza- 
tion. Here  are  the  first  elements  of  a  moral  being, 
—  the  revelation  of  a  capacity  including  freedom  of 
the  will.  Variations  in  the  exercise  of  these  capacities 
show  differences  in  achievement,  resulting  in  develop- 
ment, and  finally  make  clear  the  difference  between 
higher  and  lower  ideals  as  affecting  standards  of 
conduct.  This  brings  about  absolute  freedom  of 
the  individual  in  choosing  action  that  shall  tend  to- 
ward the  realization  of  the  higher  standard  or  shall 
tend  toward  the  realization  of  the  lower.  Moral  evil 
is  the  deliberate  choice  to  do  anything  less  than  the 
highest  which  one's  self-revelation  has  shown  to  be 
possible  for  him. 

Now  in  order  that  action  shall  be  good,  and  there- 
fore worthy,  it  must  be  voluntary  good  action ;  but 
voluntary  good  action  can  only  be  secured  when 
there  has  also  been  the  possibility  of  bad  action. 
The  various  standards  of  achievement  brought  to 
one's  notice  through  self-revelation  furnish  the 


1 40  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

opportunity  for  one's  choice ;  and  the  self-activity  of 
the  human  being,  which  is  his  primal  essence,  gives 
the  human  being  the  power  for  such  choice.  Moral 
right  and  wrong,  then,  or  moral  good  and  evil,  come 
into  existence  not  as  separate  creations,  but  as  con- 
nected with  choice  and  consequent  action  in  the 
human  being.  In  view  of  these  ideals  of  life  and  con- 
duct there  is  no  other  way  in  which  moral  evil  can 
exist  in  the  world.  The  possibility  of  evil  is  merely 
the  possibility  of  doing  less  than  one  is  urged  to  do 
by  his  own  best  ideals  or  at  least  by  his  highest  pos- 
sibilities. One  must  of  course  include  here  the  con- 
stant attempt  at  perfection  of  these  ideals,  and  the 
impulse  to  keep  pace  with  the  self-revelation  of  his 
own  capacities.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  in  a  state  of 
existence  where  all  that  is  good  and  high  and  noble 
is  finally  to  be  developed.  There  is  no  mystery 
about  the  existence  of  evil  so  long  as  men  and 
women  have  not  yet  risen  to  a  stage  of  life  in  which 
they  uniformly  choose  to  do  the  best  they  know. 
Remember  it  is  not  the  evil  that  is  necessary,  only 
the  possibility  of  evil.  Before  we  have  reached  per- 
fection it  is  inevitable  that  we  shall  sometimes  vol- 
untarily seek  to  do  that  which  is  below  our  own 
conception  of  right,  but  we  shall  eventually  forsake 
evil  for  good  by  choosing  always  to  do  the  best  we 
know.  Then  the  possibility  of  evil  will  remain  as 
now,  a  positive  force  in  the  world  to  keep  us  good ; 


SELF-REVELATION  141 

though  under  such  circumstances  no  one  would  seek 
to  practice  it.  Be  sure,  then,  that  while  evil  is  not  a 
necessity,  the  possibility  of  evil  is ;  and  until  we  have 
reached  a  high  grade  of  perfection  this  possibility 
of  evil  will  entrap  many  of  us. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  in  these  self-revealing 
experiences,  furnishing  standards  of  conduct  which 
make  an  insistent  appeal  to  us,  urging  us  toward 
their  realization,  that  a  life  higher  than  that  of  the 
brute  becomes  possible  to  us.  Bound  up  with  the 
same  fact,  however,  is  the  further  fact  that  in  the  very 
existence  of  this  possibility  of  a  life  higher  than  that 
of  the  brute  is  involved  the  possibility  of  a  life  lower 
than  that  of  the  brute.  The  temptation  to  evil  is 
always  involved  along  with  the  inspiration  toward 
the  good.  No  animal  ever  starts  a  saloon,  because 
he  drinks  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  a  physical 
need ;  and  he  therefore  drinks  only  to  satisfy  this 
need.  Man  associates  fellowship  of  a  higher  grade  — 
human  companionship — with  his  drinking,  and  there- 
fore drinks  not  merely  what  will  quench  his  thirst, 
but  what  he  thinks  will  promote  companionship. 
Again,  the  beast  eats  to  satisfy  his  appetite;  man 
eats  for  fraternity's  sake,  and  is  liable  to  become 
a  glutton. 

The  ethical  and  religious  life,  therefore,  is  a  move- 
ment upward  on  an  inclined  plane  by  our  own  moral 
energy ;  while  relaxation  will  mean  not  only  going 


I42  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

back  to  the  original  level  of  animal  life  from  which 
we  started,  but  on  down  to  the  bottomless  pit,  which, 
figuratively  speaking,  is  the  other  edge  of  the  inclined 
plane  of  progress  toward  perfection.  The  royal  pre- 
rogative of  man  —  spiritual  growth  toward  spiritual 
perfection — is  the  correlate  of  possible  backsliding  far 
down  below  animal  life  (unmoral  life)  to  z'wmoral  life. 
The  method  of  right  progress,  then,  is  first  to  find 
all  the  good  in  yourself  and  to  meditate  on  that; 
and  then,  forming  ideals  of  your  own  goodness  and 
out  of  your  very  best  experiences,  to  hope  on  and 
aspire  to  the  best.  Become  as  good  as  possible  by 
doing  all  that  you  know  now  you  ought  to  do,  and 
you  shall  thereby  find  out  what  more  you  need  to 
know  in  order  to  do  the  next  duty.  One  step  at  a 
time  is  the  law  of  spiritual  progress.  Those  and  those 
only  shall  come  to  know  the  will  of  the  Father,  who 
do  his  will  as  far  as  they  understand  it  at  any  par- 
ticular time.  Doing  God's  will  is  the  only  means  of 
perfecting  our  spiritual  sight  or  spiritual  insight,  to 
which  we  must  trust  for  further  spiritual  knowledge. 
A  constant  self-revelation  of  capacities  will  give  a 
clearer  vision  of  ideals,  and  these  in  turn  will  prompt 
to  right  action.  Right  action  will  again  make  a 
deeper  and  more  profound  self-revelation,  which  will 
again  elevate  ideals,  and  these  again  will  make  a 
more  profound  appeal  for  right  conduct.  But  this 
seeming  circle  of  activities  is  in  no  sense  a  circle, 


SELF-REVELATION  143 

but  rather  a  spiral,  which  is  merely  a  new  figure  for 
what  I  have  just  called  the  inclined  plane  of  spiritual 
progress. 

What  I  wish  to  make  plain  is  that  faith  in  good 
things,  noble  possibilities,  high  professions,  will  grow 
steadily  with  the  close  study  of  the  best  within  your- 
self, —  your  best  thoughts,  your  best  resolutions,  your 
best  actions.  You  will  soon  become  convinced  that 
a  being  who  can  have  such  noble  thoughts  as  you 
find  yourself  having,  such  unselfish  feelings  as  you 
find  yourself  possessing,  and  do  such  heroic  things 
as  you  find  yourself  capable  of  doing,  is  per  se  a  being 
of  genuine  worth.  This  knowledge  of  your  own 
nature  and  of  the  nature  of  your  own  powers  will 
convince  you  of  the  greatness  of  your  spiritual  pos- 
sibilities; and  while  you  also  discover  that  there  is 
much  desirable  evidence  still  lacking,  you  will  find 
your  faith  in  this  goodness,  your  confidence  in  all 
good  things,  steadily  growing.  In  the  end  you  will 
come  to  have  faith  in  yourself  as  good,  and  in  God 
as  the  acme  of  goodness,  with  all  the  certainty  of 
your  belief  in  the  force  of  gravity,  and  for  the  same 
reason;  namely,  because  you  have  found  out  the 
nature  of  your  own  self,  of  your  own  powers,  and  of 
the  laws  of  action  by  which  you  accomplish  your 
ends.  You  have  seen  goodness  in  finite  forms  and 
can  easily  extend  your  belief  in  it  to  a  high  degree, 
—  even  beyond  your  experience,  even  to  ideals  of 


I44  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

God  himself.  And  what  I  wish  to  make  especially 
plain  is  that  this  faith  in  yourself  and  faith  in  God 
and  your  belief  in  immortality  are  just  as  natural  and 
reasonable  as  your  faith  in  the  unproved  facts  of  the 
law  of  gravitation.  It  is  verified  in  its  essential  steps 
by  the  same  certainty  of  consciousness;  and  if  you 
have  pondered  it  as  long  a  time  and  as  earnestly  as 
you  have  at  one  time  or  another  pondered  on  the 
nature  of  gravity,  you  will,  by  the  very  structure  of 
your  own  mind,  come  to  a  surety  and  certainty  of 
faith  as  great  as  in  the  latter  case. 

Furthermore,  as  you  find  yourself  growing  more 
and  more  like  your  conception  of  God  himself,  as  it 
is  your  privilege  to  do,  you  will  more  and  more  fully 
understand  God,  and  more  and  more  you  will  become 
able  to  have  communion  with  him,  as  you  have  already 
become  able  to  have  communion  with  your  human 
friends.  Then  such  communion  will  give  you  refresh- 
ment of  spirit,  just  as  you  receive  inspiration  from 
companionship  with  your  dearest  friends ;  and  it  will 
be  known  to  you  by  the  same  tokens  of  satisfaction 
as  come  from  association  with  them.  In  this  way 
your  belief  in  the  good,  and  in  God,  will  become  a 
faith  which  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  adversities 
and  trials  of  life  to  shake.  And  just  here  is  the  true 
basis  for  a  belief  in  individual  immortality.  The  first 
condition  for  individual  immortality  is  that  there  shall 
be  something  worth  preserving.  I  know  persons 


SELF-REVELATION  145 

whose  natures  have  become  so  well  developed  toward 
perfection  that  they  impress  one  with  a  sense  of  their 
undying  capacity  for  life.  They  seem  cut  out  for 
eternity,  and  my  highest  conception  of  heaven  is  to 
be  with  such  and  the  God  who  represents  in  himself 
the  infinite  perfection  of  which  they  are  the  finite 
conception  and  illustration. 

Following  the  self-revelation  of  capacities  in  human 
progress,  resulting  in  faith  in  the  goodness  and  pos- 
sible perfection  of  one's  own  nature,  and  the  urgency 
of  one's  ideals  in  achieving  the  best  through  choos- 
ing the  higher  course  of  action,  comes  the  self-reve- 
lation of  responsibility.  The  beginnings  of  this 
self-revelation  occur  when  one  first  realizes  his  free- 
dom to  choose  among  his  ideals,  but  its  higher 
stages  await  the  higher  development  of  true  insight 
into  moral  questions.  The  sense  of  responsibility  is 
a  distinctly  human  trait.  No  human  being  can  feel 
it  with  any  clearness  or  force  who  does  not  at  the 
same  time  feel  his  power  to  direct  his  own  course  of 
action.  A  brute  animal,  with  no  sense  of  freedom, 
following  only  his  instincts,  feels  no  moral  responsi- 
bility. Neither  can  such  a  being  feel  true  remorse. 
It  is  reserved  for  men  and  women,  who  are  conscious 
of  their  own  powers,  to  feel  also  the  need  of  acting 
up  to  their  possibilities;  and  for  them  is  reserved 
the  right  to  fall  below  the  proper  standard  of  con- 
duct if  they  choose.  It  is  a  distinctly  human  attribute, 


146  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

then — this  sense  of  obligation  on  the  one  hand  to 
do  right,  and  on  the  other  the  feeling  of  regret  or 
remorse  for  conduct  which  does  not  measure  up  to 
our  ideals. 

Like  all  other  capacities  of  the  human  soul,  this 
power  to  feel  that  if  we  choose  our  own  course  of 
action  we  are  accountable  to  some  higher  power  for 
the  results  of  such  action,  is  susceptible  of  cultivation. 
In  the  first  place,  although  the  feeling  itself  is  native 
to  all  of  us,  the  particular  form  which  it  will  assume 
in  any  case  is  dependent  on  education.  In  no  other 
human  faculty  is  there  more  difference  among  men, 
due  to  its  culture  or  lack  of  culture.  In  the  second 
place,  one's  feeling  of  responsibility  or  accountability 
is  quite  dependent  on  the  precedent  recognition  of 
one's  free  agency.  No  one  is  responsible  for  the 
results  of  an  action  which  he  is  compelled  to  do,  nor 
can  he  really  feel  remorse  for  such  results.  He  may 
feel  sorry,  but  he  cannot  rightly  feel  guilty.  It  is 
true  that  one  may  become  guilty  by  allowing  him- 
self to  be  compelled,  which  is  but  another  way  of 
consenting  to  the  wrong;  and  this  again  is  but 
another  way  of  choosing  inaction  when  positive 
action  is  demanded  by  the  circumstances. 

Many  people  strive  to  free  themselves  from  the 
sense  of  responsibility  by  merely  wishing  for  the 
right,  when  circumstances  call  for  positive  action. 
Many  pray  fervently  enough,  "  Thy  will  be  done  on 


SELF-REVELATION  147 

earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  without  feeling  the  conse- 
quent necessity  for  offering  themselves  as  active 
agents  to  see  that  God's  will  is  done  upon  earth  by 
at  least  a  few  people.  One  is  reminded  in  this  con- 
nection of  the  experience  of  the  aged  negro  who 
prayed  that  the  Lord  would  send  him  some  poultry 
for  his  Sunday  dinner.  After  the  lapse  of  several 
Sundays  without  any  answer  to  his  special  pleading, 
he  changed  the  form  of  his  prayer  and  asked  that 
God  would  constitute  him  the  agent  to  bring  the 
chickens.  He  reported  that  his  active  prayer  was 
soon  answered. 

After  the  sense  of  responsibility  has  been  de- 
veloped, and  a  tendency  to  act  in  accordance  with 
this  feeling  has  been  established,  there  is  still  great 
need  of  intelligent  direction.  Just  what  things  one 
shall  feel  responsible  for,  and  just  what  action  one 
shall  take,  —  all  this  is  quite  dependent  on  one's  edu- 
cation. A  large  and  liberal  knowledge  of  things  and 
their  relations  to  human  welfare  is  essential  to  right 
feeling  and  action  in  this  respect.  A  misguided  or 
ignorant  person  may  have  a  deep  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, and  may  feel  a  strong  moral  requirement  to 
do  the  worst  of  actions,  merely  because  he  does  not 
really  know  what  is  truly  right  or  wrong  in  the 
premises.  In  case  he  refuses  or  neglects  opportuni- 
ties to  learn  better,  and  to  find  what  is  the  true 
nature  of  such  action,  his  character  will  be  injured 


148  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

to  the  extent  of  his  neglect.  It  is  through  such 
neglect  generally  that  bigotry  of  every  kind  is  devel- 
oped. All  religious  persecutions  have  grown  out  of 
this  misdirected  sense  of  responsibility.  When  John 
Calvin  ordered  Servetus  to  be  burned  at  the  stake, 
it  was  from  no  lack  of  the  feeling  of  responsibility, 
but  rather  from  lack  of  proper  direction  of  his  zeal. 
Many  of  the  theological  views  then  held  have  been 
greatly  modified  by  the  larger  knowledge  of  our 
time;  and  were  John  Calvin  alive  to-day  he  would 
probably  rejoice  as  much  in  the  freedom  and  liberty 
of  modern  knowledge  as  did  any  of  those  thousands 
gathered  at  Geneva  on  the  four  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  birth  of  the  reformer.  He  would  doubtless 
feel  the  same  obligation  that  we  feel  to  act  in  view  of 
the  knowledge  of  our  time.  While  his  zeal  might  re- 
main the  same,  its  direction  would  be  more  intelligent. 
To  those  of  us  who  are  teachers  this  matter  of 
responsibility  raises  a  grave  question.  In  modern 
homes  children  do  not  feel  the  sense  of  mutual  obli- 
gation as  they  were  formerly  taught  to  feel  it  by  the 
circumstances  of  their  home  life.  Then  there  were 
duties  in  the  home  for  all,  even  the  youngest  mem- 
bers of  the  family  having  certain  parts  of  the  work 
for  which  they  were  held  responsible.  This  share  in 
the  work  of  the  household  developed  a  trustworthi- 
ness not  so  well  brought  out  by  any  substitute  yet 
found.  I  feel  that  the  modern  school,  called  upon  as 


SELF-REVELATION  149 

it  is  to  supply  so  many  deficiencies  of  the  modern 
home,  has  as  yet  found  no  means  of  developing  and 
directing  this  sense  of  reciprocal  responsibility  rest- 
ing on  the  members  of  the  smaller  social  wholes, 
like  the  family  and  the  school  and  even  the  immedi- 
ate community;  and  I  greatly  fear  that  as  a  result 
we  are  failing  to  develop  to  the  full  that  sense  of 
trustworthiness  so  essential  in  the  good  citizen. 

I  mean  to  speak  here  mainly,  however,  of  the 
religious  aspects  of  this  question,  especially  of  the 
accountability  which  we  owe  to  our  own  nature  and 
to  the  divine  author  of  our  lives,  for  our  conduct. 
In  the  account  of  the  murder  of  Abel,  as  told  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  poetic  narrator  of  the 
event  represents  Cain  as  first  lying  directly  in  his 
answer  to  the  question  which  God  put  to  him, 
"Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?  "  "  I  know  not."  This 
lie  might  have  been  the  result  of  a  sudden  fear  or 
confusion.  A  lie  is  often  to  be  judged  leniently,  if 
uttered  when  one's  better  nature  is  momentarily 
inactive,  and  is  often  easily  forgiven  if  promptly 
repudiated  when  one's  higher  powers  resume  their 
sway.  But  Cain  did  not  stop  with  this  direct  lie. 
He  knew  well  the  basic  principle  on  which  he  was 
being  judged.  He  had  accepted  all  life's  privileges, 
but  assumed  none  of  its  obligations.  Hence  his 
sneer — "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  It  is  the 
world-old,  age-long  sneer  of  the  selfish  heart. 


1 5o  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

M  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  "  The  question  is 
as  old  as  the  race.  It  is  an  outgrowth  of  pure  selfish- 
ness and  is  absolutely  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

The  Christian  religion  recognizes  man's  freedom 
or  power  to  do  wrong  if  he  chooses,  but  seeks  to  lead 
him  of  his  own  free  will  to  do  right.  When  man 
seeks  to  do  right  he  is  early  met  by  the  question  of 
responsibility.  The  very  phrase  "  seeks  to  do  right  " 
implies  that  he  is  choosing  his  way,  and  that  he 
thus  voluntarily  enters  the  network  of  relationships 
involved  in  human  life.  If  he  were  suddenly  to  quit 
choosing,  he  would  soon  die  of  starvation,  and  his 
further  responsibility,  as  to  this  life  at  least,  would 
be  canceled.  His  willful  continuing  to  live  is  prima 
facie  evidence  of  his  deliberate  choice  to  enter  upon 
the  responsibilities  which  human  life  entails;  and 
this  voluntary  living  is  the  phase  of  life  I  am  try- 
ing to  discuss  here. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  the  matter  of  responsi- 
bility is  at  heart  a  personal  one,  because  it  is  the  in- 
dividual person  in  each  case  whose  will  is  essentially 
free,  making  the  assumption  of  responsibility  not 
only  possible  but  inevitable  as  well. 

It  is  because  man  is  capable  of  higher  things 
than  the  brute  can  do  that  he  finds  responsibilities 
attaching  to  his  conduct  not  found  in  relation  to 
the  actions  of  lower  animals.  As  I  have  said  once 


SELF-REVELATION  1 5 1 

before,  the  brute  animal  never  gets  drunk,  because 
he  drinks  to  satisfy  a  physical  need.  He  therefore 
drinks  the  liquid  which  will  satisfy  thirst,  and  he 
stops  when  his  thirst  has  been  quenched,  since  there 
is  no  longer  any  motive  to  cause  him  to  drink.  But 
man,  besides  having  a  physical  thirst,  which  under 
normal  conditions  cool  water  will  satisfy,  has  a  social 
longing,  a  capacity  for  friendship  and  friendly  com- 
munion, which  he  proceeds  to  gratify  —  not  satisfy. 
Drunkards  are  social  products.  No  animal  was  ever 
a  drinker  of  intoxicating  liquor  because  of  his  own 
unaided  act.  An  animal  can  be  outwitted  by  man 
and  made  drunk,  can  even  be  induced  to  cultivate  a 
taste  for  intoxicants ;  but  this  never  happens  to  the 
animal  through  his  own  nature.  It  happens  to  a 
human  being  through  the  indulgence  of  a  higher 
capacity  than  the  animal  has,  a  capacity  which  is 
thus  seen  to  hold  lower  as  well  as  higher  possibilities. 
The  great  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  motive 
to  action  is  largely  social,  but  the  real  responsi- 
bility rests  with  the  individual  human  soul.  We  are 
prone  to  shift  the  responsibility  to  the  same  province 
in  which  we  find  our  motives,  and  to  charge  upon 
society  our  individual  sins  and  failures.  This  tend- 
ency to  refer  our  sins  to  society  is  the  essence  of  self- 
ishness and  is  directly  opposed  to  the  Christian  spirit. 
Because  life  without  companionship  is  mere  exist- 
ence, we  insist  on  utilizing  companionship,  asserting 


1 52  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

at  the  same  time  that  we  are  not  our  brother's  keeper. 
We  thus  profit  by  the  advantages  of  society  without 
being  willing  to  assume  to  the  full  the  responsibilities 
involved  in  such  uses  of  social  opportunities. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  human  being  that  while  his 
temptations,  as  we  have  seen,  come  mainly  from  his 
higher  nature,  his  individual  freedom  and  his  power 
of  initiative  are  able,  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
Christian  faith,  to  keep  him  unspotted  from  the  world 
while  living  in  unrestricted  companionship  with 
human  kind  in  a  social  order  far  from  perfect.  It  is 
possible  for  him  to  meet  at  every  turn  the  full  meas- 
ure of  his  responsibilities,  and  through  his  own  initi- 
ative to  keep  his  conscience  clear  and  his  soul  pure, 
since  no  soul  can  be  corrupted  except  by  its  own  con- 
sent. Resistance  to  temptation  secures  the  double 
recompense  of  purity  of  soul  and  growth  of  power 
and  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  selfishness  which  leads  us 
so  easily  to  throw  off  obligations  is  closely  related 
to  carelessness.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that  care- 
lessness in  regard  to  personal  obligations  is  but  a 
passive  form  of  selfishness,  more  persuasive  than 
direct  selfishness  because  less  obtrusive  and  less 
repulsive  in  its  outer  aspects.  In  no  way  perhaps  is 
this  elemental  selfishness  exhibited  more  commonly 
than  in  our  habitual  carelessness  in  respect  to  the 
influence  of  our  daily  life  and  example  upon  our 


SELF-REVELATION  153 

companions.  From  the  Christian  point  of  view 
nothing  can  be  more  important;  and  yet  how  few 
of  us  have  ever  considered  fully  the  nature  of  per- 
sonal influence  or  the  methods  by  which  it  reaches 
others.  Many  seek  to  dominate  others  by  force  of 
character  or  through  what  we  call  a  "  strong  per- 
sonality." Everywhere,  by  intention  or  by  seeming 
accident,  this  subtle  force  of  personal  influence 
permeates  all  society,  directing  human  action  and 
shaping  human  character.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  catch,  fix,  and  name  this  thing,  which  in  action  is 
recognized  as  personal  influence.  Doubtless  in  a 
last  analysis  it  is  character,  —  what  one  really  is; 
but  before  this  character  can  move  one  to  imitation 
or  the  opposite,  it  must  become  known  to  that  other, 
must  indeed  become  a  sort  of  idea  or  ideal,  capa- 
ble of  inspiring  action  in  the  life  of  that  other.  One 
who  would  influence  another  by  his  character  must 
not  only  possess  character,  but  he  must  succeed  in 
getting  his  character  into  the  consciousness  of  others. 
Character  is  dynamic  only  when  it  has  transformed 
itself  into  an  ideal  in  the  mind  of  some  other  person. 
Then  it  causes  action  in  the  life  of  that  other, — 
action  for  which  we  are  partly  responsible  because 
we  in  our  lives,  that  is,  in  our  expression  of  our 
character,  have  furnished  the  motive.  I  have  said 
partly  responsible,  for  the  receiving  party  is  partly 
responsible  also  for  the  way  in  which  he  has 


I54  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

interpreted  our  character  and  wrought  it  into  the 
warp  and  woof  of  his  own  life.  I  shall  not  try  to  fol- 
low the  subtleties  of  this  analysis  further  at  this  time, 
but  rather  content  myself  by  showing  how  com- 
pletely this  personal  influence  enters  into  all  social 
contact  and  so  becomes  a  shaping  influence  in  all 
life ;  and  by  discussing  some  of  the  commonest 
ways  in  which  our  characters  —  yours  and  mine  — 
enter  into  the  lives  of  others ;  that  is,  how  character 
gets  into  action,  how  it  transforms  itself  from  a 
static  something,  to  be  enjoyed  by  one's  self,  into 
something  dynamic,  compelling  the  attention  of 
others,  and  through  this  attention,  growing  into  an 
ideal  which  develops  in  the  consciousness  of  that 
other,  soliciting  and  almost  compelling  imitation. 

I  disclaim  here  any  discussion  of  the  mysterious. 
I  am  not  talking  about  telepathy  nor  any  of  its  kin- 
dred theories.  There  may  be  a  system  of  long-dis- 
tance transmission  of  spiritual  influence  by  a  means 
quite  in  advance  of  the  wireless  telegraph  or  the 
wireless  telephone.  Indeed,  I  am  quite  inclined  to 
believe  in  such  possibilities,  but  I  am  not  now  dis- 
cussing them.  When  Jesus  lived  upon  earth  he 
lived  with  the  common  people  and  used  the  common 
means  of  communicating  his  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  others.  It  is  true  that  the  disciples  had  a  loving 
fancy  that  helpful  influences  came  from  his  simple 
person.  The  woman  who  touched  but  the  hem  of 


SELF-REVELATION  155 

his  garment  believed  that  thus  she  should  be  made 
whole.  But  Jesus  explained  fully  the  true  nature  of 
the  case  when  he  said  to  her,  "Thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole."  It  was  her  conception  of  his 
character,  received  through  ordinary  channels,  and 
her  belief,  that  is,  her  own  attitude  to  this  knowl- 
edge, which  became  the  active  influence  in  renovat- 
ing her  life.  We  shall  find  it  always  true  that  the 
active  force  is  the  conception  of  our  character  which 
has  somehow  got  itself  fastened  into  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  other  person,  whether  this  be  a  true 
representation  of  our  character  or  not. 

All  this  makes  the  study  of  the  methods  of  trans- 
mission of  this  subtle  but  powerful  force  —  personal 
influence  —  so  much  more  interesting  and  impor- 
tant. You  may  rest  assured  that  it  all  lies  within 
the  easy  range  of  the  senses  and  such  other  powers 
as  are  exercised  on  information  gathered  through 
the  senses.  More  than  by  all  other  ways,  perhaps, 
your  character  is  manifested  to  others  by  what  you 
say  in  connected  speech, —  by  speaking  or  writing, — 
since  it  is  in  this  way  that  you  manifest  most  defi- 
nitely and  forcefully  your  thought,  which,  after  all, 
is  doubtless  the  essence  of  your  character.  That 
was  no  chance  expression  of  Holy  Writ,  "As  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  One's  strong,  defi- 
nite, deliberate  thought,  touched  with  kindred  emo- 
tion, more  than  anything  else  gives  force  to  his 


156  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

character;  and  its  expression  in  connected  speech 
shows  the  essence  of  character  better  than  any  other 
method.  It  is  this  vital  connection  of  thought  with 
life  as  a  very  determining  factor,  and  therefore  its 
close  relation  to  character  both  as  a  formative  factor 
and  as  an  exact  indicator,  that  makes  the  expres- 
sion of  thought  in  language  so  sure  a  revealer  of 
character. 

The  most  casual  observation  shows  that  language, 
both  spoken  and  written,  but  especially  spoken  lan- 
guage, is  greatly  aided  by  incidental  factors,  more  or 
less  intimately  associated  with  language.  So  that, 
besides  what  one  really  says  as  to  his  thoughts  and 
feelings,  his  intentions  and  determinations,  he  con- 
stantly reveals  the  finer  shades  of  his  opinion  by  the 
way  he  acts,  by  the  tones  of  his  voice,  by  gesture,  by 
the  way  he  dresses,  the  way  he  walks,  the  way  he 
rises  up  and  sits  down,  the  way  he  comes  in  and 
goes  out,  and  by  the  minutest  variations  in  these 
manifold  and  varied  activities.  Every  motion  made 
is  a  help  to  the  complete  revelation  of  self;  and  the 
expert  reader  of  character  is  simply  he  who  has 
learned  to  interpret  rightly  these  multiform  signs 
which  each  of  us  is  manifesting  every  moment  of 
his  waking  existence.  While  we  are  thus  influenc- 
ing others,  we  in  turn  are  leaning  upon  the  charac- 
ter of  others,  and  are  being  influenced  both  by  the 
traits  we  admire  and  imitate  and  by  those  we  dislike 


SELF-REVELATION  157 

and  avoid.  Each  of  us  is  an  electric  battery  of  influ- 
ence, sending  out  along  the  lines  of  easy  conduc- 
tion the  subtle  influence  which  shapes  the  lives  of 
other  people;  but  we  are  also  living  in  a  perfect 
network  of  similar  batteries,  from  which  we  are  all 
the  while  receiving  formative  influences  that  react 
powerfully  upon  us  and  modify  our  own  character 
from  moment  to  moment  and  from  day  to  day. 

I  have  already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  force  which  goes  out  from  us  to  influence  an- 
other is  not  necessarily  our  character  as  it  really  is, 
but  rather  that  other's  conception  of  what  it  is.  In 
reality,  it  is  his  own  conception  of  us  which  he  likes 
or  dislikes  and  hence  imitates  or  avoids.  It  so  hap- 
pens, then,  since  different  persons  have  different 
means  of  knowing  me,  and  since  each  one  brings  to 
such  knowledge  his  own  bias  or  prejudice,  no  two 
people  have  exactly  the  same  conception  of  me.  It 
therefore  results  that  my  influence  upon  the  lives 
of  different  people  is  totally  different  as  they  have 
gained  differing  conceptions  of  me.  There  are,  there- 
fore, as  many  different  mds  or  selves  as  there  are 
people  who  know  me  or  partially  know  me,  and  I 
multiply  my  power  for  good  or  evil  in  the  lives  of 
other  people  as  I  extend  my  acquaintance.  You 
are  doubtless  familiar  with  the  experience  of  hav- 
ing people  give  differing  impressions  of  the  same 
person,  depending  on  their  opportunity  of  really 


158  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

knowing  the  person  and  on  the  bias  of  mind  which 
each  brought  to  the  interpretation  of  his  character. 
There  is  thus  not  merely  one  self  for  each  of  us,  but 
thousands  of  selves,  as  our  thousands  of  acquaint- 
ances have  conceived  our  character;  and  each  of 
these  selves  is  an  active  worker,  forming  to  some 
extent,  however  small,  the  final  characters  of  those 
who  have  known  us.  What  they  admire  in  us  they 
imitate,  under  the  law  of  attraction,  and  so  they 
gradually  become  like  us  in  those  special  ways.  It 
is  the  old  story  over  again,  of  the  little  flower  which 
lived  in  a  dell,  from  between  the  rugged  sides  of 
which  it  could  see  but  a  small  patch  of  blue  sky  by 
day  and  a  single  star  by  night;  and  as  it  looked 
upon  the  blue  sky  by  day  and  the  single  star  by 
night  and  longed  to  be  with  them  and  like  them,  its 
petals  gradually  grew  to  be  blue  and  its  heart  turned 
to  gold.  Whether  or  not  this  story  tells  the  exact 
process  by  which  the  bluebell  came  into  existence, 
it  at  least 'expresses  the  law  of  human  evolution  and 
character  growth.  How  heavy  the  responsibility  of 
each  of  us  to  see  to  it  that  our  influence  over  others 
is  sane  and  wholesome ! 

The  influence  that  we  exert  over  others  divides 
itself  for  our  thought  into  two  parts:  (i)  that  which 
we  exert  intentionally,  of  set  purpose,  and  by  selected 
methods,  and  (2)  the  unconscious  influence  given  out 
by  unintentional  revelations  of  our  character. 


SELF-REVELATION  159 

The  most  conspicuous  example  of  personal  in- 
fluence exerted  intentionally  is  the  work  of  the 
teacher.  So  extensive  is  this  theme  and  so  profound 
and  far-reaching  is  its  philosophy  that  great  institu- 
tions are  created  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  this 
philosophy,  and  years  are  spent  in  its  acquisition. 
The  school  itself  as  an  institution  exists  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  vitality  to  this  outgoing  of  our  per- 
sonal influence.  But  each  of  us  is  also  unconsciously 
exerting  this  influence  unintentionally.  Two  people 
cannot  meet  in  the  most  casual  fashion  without  in- 
fluencing each  other  to  some  degree.  Though  they 
speak  of  nothing  more  exciting  than  the  weather  or 
the  state  of  the  crops,  or  the  tariff,  both  of  them 
acquire  a  new  trend  in  life,  however  slight  and  brief 
the  change  in  direction  may  be.  We  are  ourselves 
often  unaware  of  certain  changes  in  our  opinion, 
beliefs,  or  hopes,  and  even  when  we  recognize  the 
change  we  may  be  entirely  unconscious  of  its  source 
and  inspiration. 

And  now  what  is  the  lesson  of  it  all  for  our  prac- 
tical living  ?  Just  this  in  brief:  Life  is  partly  at  least 
what  we  choose  to  make  it.  Character  is  the  chief 
thing.  Our  human  obligations  are  best  met  by  en- 
tering joyously  and  courageously  into  the  community 
life  about  us,  and  by  keeping  ourselves  alert  and 
sensitive  to  the  touch  of  the  spirit-  With  Jesus 
Christ  as  our  ideal,  and  an  active  effort  for  the 


160  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

realization  of  this  ideal  in  ourselves,  there  is  little 
danger  that  we  shall  fail  to  meet  fairly  the  obligations 
of  the  highest  life.  This  full  development  of  the  sense 
of  responsibility  brings  with  it  a  sense  of  perfection 
in  life  that  will  tend  to  make  us  more  just  and  more 
charitable  to  others.  Idealism  in  religious  life  will 
give  us  the  power  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of 
another,  and  thus  to  see  things  from  the  standpoint 
of  that  other.  This  is  the  basis  of  all  sympathy. 
This  is  what  enabled  Jesus  to  enter  so  completely 
into  the  lives  of  those  about  him,  to  understand 
their  motives,  and  to  account  for  their  actions.  He 
was  able  to  see  the  difference  between  sin  and  a 
sinner  —  to  denounce  a  person's  sin  and  at  the  same 
time  to  love  the  sinner.  It  enabled  him  to  see  how 
much  alike  all  people  are  in  fundamentals,  and  how 
differences  are  often  almost  entirely  in  nonessentials. 
The  person  without  religious  imagination  is  neces- 
sarily narrow  and  bigoted  in  his  beliefs.  He  cannot 
see  how  things  can  properly  occur  to  any  one  else 
except  in  the  precise  way  in  which  they  have  oc- 
curred to  him.  His  experience  would  set  the  law 
for  the  experience  of  others.  It  is  as  if  a  resident  of 
Detroit  should  go  to  Chicago  by  way  of  the  Michigan 
Central  Railway  and  straightway  proclaim  that  the 
only  road  leading  into  Chicago  is  by  way  of  Detroit. 
He  might  then  instruct  the  residents  of  Cleveland 
that  if  they  wish  to  visit  Chicago  they  must  in  some 


SELF-REVELATION  161 

way  get  to  Detroit,  from  which  point  they  will  have 
a  plain  way  to  their  destination.  With  his  narrow 
experience  of  travel  and  without  imagination  he  can- 
not see  the  straight  road  from  Cleveland  to  Chicago, 
but  must  insist  upon  fastening  his  own  limitations 
upon  every  other  traveler.  This  illustration  is  no 
whit  more  ridiculous  than  others  we  might  draw 
from  the  religious  experiences  of  many  people.  Be- 
cause a  man  has  been  led  to  Christ  through  a  form 
or  rite  of  some  particular  church,  he  sets  up  this 
particular  rite  as  a  necessary  means  or  step  in  the 
religious  experience  of  all  Christians,  instead  of 
seeing  it  in  its  true  light  merely  as  a  special  means 
in  his  individual  religious  life,  to  be  replaced  in  the 
case  of  others  by  means  as  different  from  this  as  the 
other  person's  individual  characteristics  and  experi- 
ences are  different  from  his. 

Sameness  of  destination  does  not  mean  sameness 
of  way,  but  rather  such  difference  of  way  as  the 
starting  points  may  make  possible  or  desirable. 
Persons  who  already  live  near  the  destination  and 
on  the  plain  highway  thereto  must  not  judge  too 
harshly  those  who  were  born  farther  away,  or  amidst 
obstructions  which  make  the  journey  slow  and  pain- 
ful. Complete  self-revelation  will  sound  the  death 
knell  of  religious  bigotry.  Already,  ideal  religious 
cooperation  begins  to  seem  possible.  Religious  ideal- 
ism is  enabling  us  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of 


162  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  other  person,  to  see  things  from  his  angle  of 
vision,  to  infer  his  motives  from  his  experiences, 
and  lastly  to  sympathize  with  him  in  his  efforts  in- 
stead of  judging  him  by  his  achievements.  Its  height 
will  be  reached  when  we  can  pray  for  all  sinners  as 
Jesus  prayed  for  his  persecutors,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  their  sins  are  largely  the  result  of  igno- 
rance,"—  or,  as  Jesus  said  it,  "they  know  not  what 
they  do." 


CHAPTER  IV 

SELF-DIRECTION 

The  preceding  chapter  was  mainly  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  the  growth  of  the  human  being 
from  the  unconsciousness  of  infancy  through  self- 
revelation  to  the  self-consciousness  of  mature  and 
developed  manhood  and  womanhood. 

The  process  begins  with  the  child  in  the  mental 
mastery  of  the  objects  about  him,  whether  these  be 
things  or  persons.  As  he  learns  the  attributes  of 
things  or  persons,  the  activities  employed  and  the 
gratification  in  the  use  of  the  knowledge  acquired 
are  the  natural  means  of  awakening  and  developing 
certain  capacities  of  the  soul,  which  previous  to  such 
exercise  were  more  or  less  latent.  The  growth  into 
self-consciousness  through  self-revelation,  then,  is 
growth  in  the  knowledge  of  things,  a  clearer  notion 
and  a  deeper  appreciation  of  our  own  powers  and 
capacities,  and  a  fuller  insight  into  the  ways  in  which 
the  things  of  the  universe  may  be  helpful  in  forward- 
ing our  life  development.  As  a  necessary  part  of 
this  growing  or  developing  of  the  soul  comes  a 
clearer  and  clearer  distinction  between  the  self  as 
a  free,  active  power  and  the  other  things  of  the 

universe  which  make  up  its  environment. 

163 


1 64  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

This  distinction,  vague  at  first,  becomes  clearer  at 
each  access  of  knowledge  and  with  each  deeper 
appreciation  of  one's  capacities,  till  at  last  the  self 
becomes  an  individual,  differing  by  its  attributes 
and  capacities  from  all  other  things  in  the  universe, 
though  sustaining  numerous  relations  of  likeness 
with  them  all.  This  sense  of  individuality,  this  feel- 
ing of  selfhood,  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  power 
and  worth,  is  the  evidence  of  true  growth  from  im- 
maturity toward  maturity.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
the  child  rounds  himself  "  to  a  separate  mind,  from 
whence  clear  memory  may  begin."  The  developing 
memory,  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  all  further 
development  of  self-consciousness,  serves  to  give 
continuity  to  the  feeling  of  personality,  resulting  in 
a  more  decided  feeling  of  selfhood.  The  student 
thus  comes  to  feel  that  he  is  a  person  with  a  history, 
and  he  may  now  begin  to  conceive  of  a  destiny. 

It  is  clear  that  growth  in  self-consciousness  is 
never  one  isolated  line  of  development;  it  is  the 
cause  and  accompaniment  of  other  related  lines  of 
development,  all  bound  together  by  the  complex 
activities  of  the  developing  soul.  The  unity  of  the 
soul  as  an  entity  or  thing  underneath  its  complex 
activities,  tends  to  keep  all  lines  of  development 
properly  related,  though  there  is  much  left  for 
teachers  to  do  in  preserving  the  balance  of  the  soul 
activities  which  are  intended  as  educative  influences. 


SELF-DIRECTION  165 

At  first  all  special  direction  must  come  from  with- 
out,—  from  teachers,  parents,  and  friends.  But  the 
goal  to  be  reached  is  self-direction.  For  this  the 
growth  in  self-consciousness  constantly  prepares 
the  way.  With  the  distinction  between  one's  self  and 
other  things  made  clear  to  consciousness,  and  with 
memory  of  the  past  that  is  known  to  be  reliable,  one 
is  ready  naturally  to  contemplate  his  destiny.  In  a 
semiconscious  way  this  process  begins  with  the 
dawning  of  self-consciousness,  but  it  lingers  a  little 
in  its  growth,  since  it  is  dependent  on  memory  and 
imagination. 

Both  self-consciousness  and  self-direction  are  the 
necessary  outcome  of  self-activity,  but  self-direction 
is  a  higher  form  of  development  than  either  of  the 
others.  Self-direction  cannot  precede  self-conscious- 
ness, but  it  accompanies  it,  or  follows  so  closely  that 
the  difference  of  time  is  not  appreciable.  The  order 
is  more  a  question  of  logic  than  of  definite  time.  The 
soul  cannot  direct  itself  till  it  has  gained  material  out 
of  which  to  construct  ideals  or  standards,  —  goals  of 
effort,  however  temporary  or  imperfect  these  may  be. 
To  make  right  standards,  a  person's  experience  must 
be  liberal  and  his  knowledge  extensive.  One  must 
be  familiar  with  many  provinces  of  human  thought 
and  human  experience. 

We  begin  ideal-making  as  soon  as  we  have  ac- 
quired a  little  knowledge  and  a  few  memories,  but 


1 66  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  character  of  our  ideals  changes  as  our  education 
proceeds.  The  higher  ways  of  culture  imply  the  re- 
combination of  worthy  knowledge  and  feeling  into 
various  ideal  forms  under  the  guiding  hand  of  pur- 
pose. An  ideal  represents  a  state  or  condition  or 
purpose  unrealized,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
condition  or  plan  or  purpose  is  unrealizable.  In  fact 
most  ideals  are  realizable,  at  least  in  part.  Progress 
is  but  the  successive  realizations  of  what  were  at 
first  merely  ideals.  Boy  hungry  is  a  present  con- 
crete condition,  it  may  be.  Boy  eating  an  apple  or  a 
cooky  is  perhaps  at  present  an  ideal  condition ;  but 
the  chances  are  that  what  is  now  an  ideal  will  within 
a  few  minutes  be  fully  realized,  the  very  attractiveness 
of  the  ideal  having  stimulated  invention  of  ways  and 
means  for  its  realization.  Thus  does  the  ideal  become 
a  motive,  —  the  only  reliable  appeal  that  can  be  made 
to  a  self-active,  self-conscious  being.  Such  a  being  is 
always  by  his  nature  setting  goals,  laying  plans,  form- 
ing purposes.  His  own  developed  capacities  urge  him 
on.  The  soul's  own  sense  of  worth  when  once  aroused 
makes  it  long  for  the  realization  of  a  higher  self. 

All  plans,  intentions,  purposes,  hopes,  are  but  ideals 
awaiting  realization.  All  life  of  a  high  order  is  but 
the  realization  of  what  was  at  first  a  dimly  seen  ideal 
of  some  enthusiast.  Ideals  are  essential  to  progress. 
Great  ideals  lead  to  great  achievements.  Themisto- 
cles  could  not  sleep  after  he  had  seen  the  trophies  in 


SELF-DIRECTION  167 

the  Ceramicus.  Lofty  aspirations  and  ardent  long- 
ings fired  his  imagination  and  urged  him  to  prepa- 
ration for  heroic  endeavor.  The  patriotic  examples 
of  his  countrymen  became  his  standard  of  conduct, 
around  which  he  gathered  the  halos  of  glory  fur- 
nished by  his  excited  imagination.  The  longing  for 
like  glory  to  theirs  was  a  stronger  motive  force  within 
him  than  could  be  supplied  by  any  power  from  with- 
out. Thus  self-activity  and  self-consciousness  supply 
the  conditions  for  self-direction  through  the  knowl- 
edge and  the  susceptibilities  which  they  furnish. 
Self-consciousness  and  self-direction  merely  repre- 
sent higher  and  higher  forms  of  culture  of  the  self- 
active  human  soul. 

The  elements  of  material  out  of  which  ideals  are 
made,  are  precisely  the  knowledge  (of  attributes  of 
things)  which  the  self-consciousness  has  mastered 
and  stored  in  the  memory.  As  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  ideal-making  begins  as  soon  as  a  few 
ideas  have  been  experienced  and  remembered;  but 
it  is  only  after  a  large  experience  with  the  facts  of 
the  world  of  matter  and  with  the  incidents  of  social 
companionship,  that  one  has  the  materials  for  those 
ideals  of  life  and  conduct  which  play  such  a  conspic- 
uous part  in  the  higher  culture  of  character.  More- 
over, the  elements  of  our  experience  are  seldom  used 
by  us  in  the  construction  of  ideals  without  first  being 
greatly  altered.  If  a  human  being  could  image  only 


1 68  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  past,  he  could  not  provide  for  self -culture  beyond 
the  standards  of  the  past ;  but  the  mind  has  the  na- 
tive power  to  change  its  remembered  ideas  in  many 
ways.  The  power  or  capacity  of  the  mind  to  make 
those  changes  was  once  called  imagination,  as  if  it 
were  some  separate  part  or  power  of  the  mind.  Per- 
haps the  name  may  yet  be  applied  to  it,  provided 
care  is  taken  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  proc- 
ess thus  named  or  described.  The  process  is  one 
of  mingled  intellect,  feeling,  and  volition, — just  such 
complexity  as  is  everywhere  seen  in  mind  action,  but 
peculiar  in  the  proportion  of  the  various  ingredients. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  our  purpose  here  to  analyze 
sharply  this  process,  but  rather  to  note  what  is  ac- 
complished by  the  mind  acting  in  the  special  form 
spoken  of  as  imagination. 

Remembered  ideas  may,  under  appropriate  circum- 
stances, be  recalled  precisely  as  at  first  experienced. 
Such  recalling  is  commonly  called  recollecting ;  and 
the  name  memory  is  perhaps  the  most  common  name 
by  which  such  composite  power  as  this  implies  is 
known.  For  it  must  be  noticed  that  there  is  here 
much  more  than  an  ordinary  matter  of  intellectual 
action.  There  is  also  a  revival  of  the  feeling  of  value 
which  was  set  on  the  idea  when  first  mastered,  to- 
gether with  such  longings  of  the  soul  as  were  inspired 
by  such  values.  Now,  all  these,  as  revived,  are  sub- 
ject to  changes  of  specific  kinds.  If  the  remembered 


SELF-DIRECTION  169 

idea  is  from  the  material  world,  it  may  be  changed 
as  to  its  color  or  form,  its  size,  density,  taste,  odor, 
or  any  other  attribute  or  characteristic  belonging  to 
it  as  an  object.  If  it  be  a  mental  fact,  such  as  a 
thought  or  a  feeling  or  a  choice  that  is  remembered, 
it  may  be  changed  in  its  intensity  or  in  its  duration ; 
it  may  be  attributed  to  some  other  mind ;  or  it  may 
be  changed  in  any  other  of  thousands  of  possible 
ways.  These  changes  modify  the  original  values  set 
upon  these  ideas,  and  they  now  in  their  new  form 
arouse  a  new  set  of  longings.  In  fact,  the  remem- 
bered and  changed  idea  has  become  a  totally  new 
factor  in  the  mental  life  of  the  person.  Thus  the 
future  use  of  a  remembered  idea  is  quite  dependent 
on  whether  it  is  to  be  used  in  its  original  or  its 
idealized  form. 

A  second  possibility  is  of  still  greater  significance 
in  the  mental  life,  so  far  as  the  creation  of  new  stand- 
ards of  life  and  conduct  are  concerned.  For  the 
mind  may  now  take  any  one  of  the  many  possible 
idealized  forms  of  an  idea  and  use  it  with  either 
original  or  idealized  forms  of  other  ideas,  to  make  a 
new  complex  or  composite  idea  or  ideal.  The  result- 
ing creation  is  entirely  new,  not  only  unlike  any  idea 
that  ever  before  existed,  but  unlike  any  of  the  ele- 
ments of  which  it  is  made.  The  builder  takes  wood 
and  stones,  bricks  and  mortar,  iron  and  glass  and 
paint,  and  puts  them  into  such  relations  to  one 


170  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

another  that  a  house  is  created,  —  a  thing  utterly  un- 
like wood,  or  stones,  or  bricks,  or  mortar,  or  iron,  or 
glass,  or  paint  It  is  a  new  creation  made  out  of  these 
other  things,  by  using  them  in  certain  definite  pro- 
portions and  relations.  In  fact,  the  architect's  mind 
had  used  the  ideas  of  these  same  articles  in  an  ideal 
construction,  resulting  in  an  ideal  house,  even  before 
the  builder  could  proceed  to  put  the  real  articles  into 
the  same  relations  and  construct  a  real  house.  And 
before  the  architect  made  any  ideal  combination  of 
these  remembered  ideas  of  his  of  wood  and  stones 
and  bricks  and  mortar  and  iron  and  glass  and  paint, 
he  changed  these  remembered  ideas  into  dimensions 
and  relations  unlike  any  forms  in  which  these  ideas 
had  previously  existed  in  his  mind.  Otherwise  he 
would  not  have  produced  a  new  house.  And  should 
he  in  the  future  use  these  same  remembered  ideas 
again,  changing  but  a  single  one  of  them  in  a  single 
particular,  the  result  would  be  still  another  house 
different  in  certain  respects  from  the  other.  Thus 
we  see  the  limitless  changes  possible  in  so  simple 
a  thing  as  an  ideal  of  a  house. 

When  we  come  to  the  construction  of  an  ideal  of 
character  or  conduct,  the  process  is  infinitely  more 
complex  and  difficult.  Yet  it  is  precisely  these  ideals, 
shaping  the  inner  life  and  revolutionizing  charac- 
ter and  conduct  by  the  new  longings  and  efforts 
which  they  produce,  that  concern  us  so  much  in  the 


SELF-DIRECTION  171 

educational  process,  —  especially  the  higher  phase  of 
education  in  which  the  student  is  prepared  to  take 
his  place  in  human  society  as  a  self-governing,  self- 
directing,  law-abiding  member  of  his  community. 

Looking  backward  we  see  that  however  unlimited 
the  mind  may  be  in  changing  its  remembered  ideas 
preparatory  to  the  creation  of  ideals,  it  is  absolutely 
dependent  on  experience  for  its  materials.  These 
experiences  are  deepened  and  enriched  by  the  self- 
appreciation  which  they  produce,  even  while  the  self 
begins  to  aspire  to  be  more  than  it  is  at  a  given 
moment.  Thus  the  self  recalls,  revamps,  and  recom- 
bines  its  actual  experiences  as  a  means  of  opening 
up  possible  or  ideal  experiences,  which,  luring  one 
on  to  realization,  give  precisely  the  new  experiences 
which  the  higher  culture  demands.  In  this  way  the 
endless  process  of  soul  growth  goes  on.  Education 
is  never  static ;  it  is  always  a  process,  always  a  be- 
coming; and  the  self,  permanent  as  to  its  identity, 
changes  as  to  its  condition  and  worth  with  each 
passing  experience. 

A  person's  ideal,  seemingly  simple  as  it  is,  is  rarely 
obtained  from  one  source  or  at  one  time.  It  is,  in 
reality,  almost  infinitely  complex.  For  instance,  our 
ideal  of  beauty  in  human  form  is  never  a  mere  copy 
of  any  one  whom  we  have  seen.  Certain  features, 
especially  pleasing,  have  been  gathered  from  one 
person,  other  features  from  another.  Eyes  and 


172  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

mouth  may  be  taken  from  one,  complexion  from 
another,  form  from  still  another.  Probably  none 
of  these  is  used  until  it  has  been  idealized,  that 
is,  changed  to  harmonize  with  our  preferences.  At 
last,  however,  when  each  has  been  changed  to  suit 
our  existing  standard  of  taste,  all  are  worked  over  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  relative  proportion  into 
a  whole  which  satisfies  our  esthetic  judgment.  A 
great  artist,  who  is  to  paint  an  ideally  beautiful 
woman,  doubtless  has  his  artistic  sense  greatly  stirred 
by  seeing  beautiful  women;  but  the  final  picture 
which  he  produces  is  far  from  being  a  likeness  of 
any  woman  that  he  has  ever  seen. 

A  story  is  told  by  Vasari,  in  his  work  "  The  Lives 
of  Great  Painters,  Sculptors,  and  Architects,"  which 
illustrates  in  a  humorous  but  striking  way  the  reli- 
ance placed  by  imaginative  minds  upon  real  life  and 
experience  for  stimulation  to  the  creative  power. 
The  story  concerns  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  who  painted 
his  celebrated  picture  of  the  Last  Supper  on  the 
wall  of  the  little  refectory  of  the  convent  of  Sta. 
Maria  Delle  Grazie,  at  Milan.  It  seems  that  the 
Duke  of  Milan  had  engaged  the  artist  to  decorate 
the  walls  of  this  room,  without  stipulating  as  to  what 
he  should  choose  as  decorative  material  or  as  to  the 
length  of  time  he  should  devote  to  the  work.  When 
Leonardo  was  seized  with  the  desire  to  represent 
adequately  the  great  theme  presented  by  the  Last 


SELF-DIRECTION  173 

Supper,  he  examined  diligently  the  Biblical  account, 
supplementing  this  by  a  study  of  such  tradition  as 
had  been  handed  down  with  reference  to  the  event. 
He  also  made  careful  studies  of  the  character  of 
each  person  he  was  to  portray;  for  while  each  face 
was  of  course  necessarily  ideal,  he  desired  to  have  it 
express  as  well  as  it  might  the  prominent  character- 
istics of  the  person  represented.  He  painted  the 
picture  over  and  over,  erasing  at  times  all  of  it  and  at 
other  times  such  parts  as  failed  to  satisfy  his  exact- 
ing standard.  In  order  to  stir  his  creative  powers 
he  often  spent  whole  days  mingling  with  the  people 
in  public  places,  getting  suggestions  from  faces 
which  he  saw  there.  In  many  cases,  after  such  a  day 
spent  in  the  study  of  faces,  he  was  able  to  complete 
one  or  another  of  the  figures  about  the  table.  At 
last  only  two  faces  remained  incomplete,  —  Judas 
Iscariot's  and  the  Master's.  Again  there  was  a  long 
delay.  The  painter  would  sit  by  the  hour  looking 
intently  at  his  picture;  then,  suddenly  seizing  his 
hat,  he  would  rush  to  the  street  and  peer  into  the 
faces  of  the  passing  throng. 

Now  it  happened  that  the  old  prior  who  had 
charge  of  that  part  of  the  convent  could  not  under- 
stand these  delays.  He  was  merely  eager  to  see  the 
walls  properly  decorated.  His  easily  satisfied  stand- 
ard of  taste  would  have  been  fully  met  by  any  one 
of  the  half  dozen  attempts  that  had  been  destroyed 


I74  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

by  the  artist  after  they  had  neared  completion.  Be- 
sides, the  prior  wished  to  use  the  refectory,  and  he 
thought  the  painter  might  as  well  finish  his  work 
and  allow  the  room  to  be  refurnished  for  use.  So  he 
reported  to  the  duke  how  things  were  going  and 
asked  that  the  duke  would  urge  Leonardo  to  com- 
plete his  work,  adding  that,  so  far  as  he  could  see, 
the  work  was  practically  finished  already;  but  that 
if  that  madman  were  left  to  himself  he  would  prob- 
ably destroy  it  all  and  begin  over  again,  as  he  had 
often  done  before.  The  prior  went  on  to  complain 
that  the  artist  did  not  work  half  of  his  time ;  that  he 
often  sat  for  the  space  of  an  hour  without  lifting  his 
brush ;  that  he  acted  strangely  upon  the  street,  peer- 
ing into  the  faces  of  passers-by  until  he  had  pro- 
voked comment.  He  ended  by  expressing  the  idea 
that  the  crazy  fellow  was  not  fit  to  be  intrusted 
further  with  the  work. 

The  duke,  seeing  that  the  prior  had  no  real  com- 
prehension of  the  situation,  determined  to  have  some 
enjoyment  from  the  misunderstanding,  so  he  called 
the  great  painter  to  task  in  regard  to  the  progress 
of  his  labors,  and  contrived  to  have  the  prior  present 
during  the  interview.  The  duke  told  Leonardo  in 
the  presence  of  the  prior  what  the  latter  had  said, 
and  asked  what  defense  the  artist  had  to  offer.  After 
due  consideration,  and  several  glances  at  the  guilty 
prior,  Leonardo  said  that  for  the  most  part  the 


SELF-DIRECTION  175 

complaints  were  well  founded.  The  work  had  pro- 
gressed slowly  for  many  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  he 
had  been  unable  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  grouping 
of  the  figures  involved  in  the  Last  Supper.  Further- 
more, he  had  found  great  difficulty  in  getting  his 
mind  to  work  freely  in  devising  appropriate  expres- 
sions on  the  different  faces  of  the  apostles  so  as  to 
indicate  in  each  case  the  fundamental  traits  of  char- 
acter. He  said  that  in  many  cases  he  had  been 
obliged  to  study  a  large  variety  of  human  faces  be- 
fore he  could  find  sufficient  suggestion  for  his  work. 
But  now,  happily,  all  were  done,  with  the  exception 
of  two,  —  Judas  Iscariot  and  the  Master.  He  had 
been  unable  to  find  anywhere  a  face  suggesting  the 
degree  of  evil  and  treachery  which  he  desired  to 
express  in  the  face  of  Judas  Iscariot;  but  now  that 
he  had  been  enabled  to  study  the  face  of  the  old 
prior,  he  believed  that  part  of  his  difficulty  was  re- 
moved and  he  should  be  ready  to  work  rapidly,  for  if 
he  did  not  soon  satisfy  himself  elsewhere,  he  could  at 
least  use  the  face  of  the  prior  for  that  of  Judas.  He 
added  that  he  scarcely  hoped  to  find  any  human 
face  that  could  suggest  the  ineffable  grace  and  beauty 
he  desired  to  depict  in  the  face  of  Jesus ;  and  there 
are  art  critics  to-day  who  aver  that  the  face  of  the 
Master  was  never  quite  completed. 

However  interesting  the  methods  by  which  great 
artists  obtain  the  material  for  their  ideals,  and  the 


i  ;6  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

ways  in  which  they  are  influenced  by  their  own 
ideal  creations,  we  are  here  more  concerned  with 
the  influence  of  ideals  upon  the  common  life  of  the 
common  people.  Of  all  the  forms  of  this  influence 
the  teacher  is  most  concerned  with  the  right  de- 
velopment of  those  ideals  which  act  as  motives  to- 
ward the  control  and  direction  of  conduct.  Here 
as  elsewhere  each  person  is  dependent  on  experi- 
ence for  his  material  for  a  beginning.  The  student's 
acquaintance  with  the  world  of  matter  —  with  the 
attributes  of  material  objects  —  furnishes  his  mind 
with  analogies  with  which  to  represent  in  creative 
concrete  form  many  inner  experiences  which  no 
language  yet  invented  can  directly  express.  Never- 
theless, transformation  or  idealization  of  these  ex- 
periences gives  even  fuller  opportunity  for  expression 
of  spiritual  ideas.  Besides,  one  gets  directly  from 
other  people  the  suggestions  which  enable  the  mind 
to  transform  and  use  the  millions  of  spiritual  ideas 
represented  in  common  daily  life.  One  person  sees 
another  perform  a  common  act  of  kindness,  and 
already  the  creative  mind  has  suggested  acts  of 
kindness  a  thousandfold  more  kind.  A  friend  per- 
forms an  act  of  heroism,  but  the  mind  outruns  the 
fact  and  is  suddenly  conscious  of  higher  and  higher 
degrees  of  heroism.  So  throughout  the  whole  cate- 
gory of  existence:  experience  furnishes  the  bare 
suggestion  in  the  form  of  a  fact,  but  the  creative 


SELF-DIRECTION  177 

function  of  mind  has  already  leaped  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  actual,  and  the  urging  of  the  ideal 
over  the  real  keeps  us  full  of  a  divine  discontent 
with  our  present  poor  attainments.  The  creative 
power,  which  thus  transforms  the  actual  into  the 
attractive  possible,  delights  in  enhancement.  What- 
ever now  is,  might  be  in  higher  degree  and  in  greater 
glory.  On  the  other  hand,  the  low  and  the  bad  sug- 
gest lower  depths  of  vice  and  misery.  Everywhere 
there  is  enhancement, — the  province  of  the  possible. 
In  these  exaggerated  forms  of  good  and  evil  our 
ideals  have  large  influence  in  shaping  our  conduct. 
They  enchain  our  attention  and  rouse  our  spirits  to 
action,  by  which  we  rise  or  fall  in  the  scale  of  being. 
If  we  follow  noble  ideals,  albeit  afar  off,  some  of  the 
effulgent  glow  interfuses  itself  with  our  experiences. 
Before  we  have  fully  realized  our  allegiance  to  the 
shining  ideal,  we  have  already  begun  to  grow  like  it. 
Human  nature  is  such  that  the  individual  naturally 
tends  to  become  like  what  he  sees  oftenest  and 
admires  most. 


CHAPTER  V 
SELF-REALIZATION 

The  process  by  which  a  self-active  being,  that  is, 
a  person,  enlarges  his  experience  (becomes  self-con- 
scious,—  receives  his  self-revelation)  until  he  is  ca- 
pable of  directing  his  life  toward  worthy  ends,  and 
is  disposed  to  make  the  most  of  his  opportunities 
(in  other  words,  becomes  self-directive),  is  properly 
called  self-realization.  This  means  the  making  actual 
what  was  possible  in  the  very  nature  of  the  individual. 

The  laws  which  govern  this  transforming  process 
are  the  principles  of  method  in  education.  The 
studies  which  we  have  thus  far  made  of  the  human 
being,  whose  essence  is  self-activity  capable  of  be- 
ing transformed  by  education  into  self-consciousness 
and  self-direction,  show  man  to  be  a  perfectible  be- 
ing. The  nature  of  man,  therefore,  hints  at  his  des- 
tiny. When  this  destiny  is  once  seen  as  perfection, 
it  is  compelling  in  its  nature,  and  it  somehow  sets 
itself  up  in  our  half-conscious  thought  as  the  aim  of 
education,  however  vague  its  meaning  may  still  be 
to  us.  It  soon  makes  more  or  less  clear  its  inclusive- 
ness,  till  we  see,  at  least  dimly,  that  all  the  thousands 

of  subsidiary,  subordinate,  and  temporary  aims,  so 

178 


SELF-REALIZATION  179 

far  as  they  are  worthy,  marshal  themselves  in  due 
order  and  relation  within  its  scope,  and  the  limits  to 
which  each  subordinate  aim  should  be  subjected,  be- 
gin to  be  rightly  manifested.  It  also  makes  clear 
to  us  how  completely  the  method  of  education  is 
dominated  by  the  aim  of  the  process,  and  how  thor- 
oughly the  aim  of  education  is  involved  in,  deter- 
mined by,  and  limited  through  the  essential  nature 
and  the  consequent  possibilities  of  the  being  to  be 
educated.  The  perfection  referred  to  here  is  no 
more  a  static  thing  than  is  the  process  of  education 
itself.  Perfection  is  merely  the  "  highest  attainable 
degree  of  excellence,"  —  a  condition  of  a  person 
which  is  as  changeable  as  environment  itself.  The 
self  is  permanent  only  as  to  its  identity,  but  change- 
able as  to  its  condition,  following  in  this  respect  an 
always  receding  ideal.  Our  ideal  of  perfection  itself 
is  subject  to  constant  improvement.  It  is  because 
this  ideal  is  movable  that  we  are  permitted  to  speak 
of  such  an  idea  as  "  perfection." 

This  chapter  on  self-realization  therefore  properly 
resolves  itself  into  a  discussion  of  the  aims  of  edu- 
cation and  the  methods  of  education,  as  these  are 
indicated  by  the  nature  of  the  educable  being,  and 
by  the  environing  conditions  under  which  such  edu- 
cation must  be  carried  on.  The  very  meager  previous 
discussion  of  the  characteristics  of  human  nature  will 
make  frequent  back  reference  and  some  repetition 


i8o  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

necessary.  In  the  narrow  limits  set  for  the  discus- 
sion it  is  the  writer's  intention  to  make  the  whole 
suggestive  rather  than  exhaustive  and  formal. 

In  the  early  stages,  as  we  have  seen,  the  child 
is  unconscious,  moved  by  outside  forces  resulting 
in  reflex  activities.  Soon,  dawning  consciousness  ar- 
rives, and  semiconsciousness  gives  a  narrow  range 
to  interests  which  rouse  self -activity.  New  interests 
follow  the  development  of  innate  but  hitherto  unfelt 
capacities.  With  enlarged  experience  and  remem- 
bered knowledge  from  many  fields,  the  child  ac- 
quires a  many-sided  interest,  or  rather  a  great 
diversity  of  interests.  He  is  pulled  this  way  and 
that  by  these  sometimes  conflicting  interests,  thus 
exhibiting  the  volatile  characteristics  of  immature 
persons.  With  widening  self-consciousness  (that  is, 
knowledge  of  the  self  and  the  world  in  relation  to 
each  other)  and  ripening  judgment,  discrimination 
among  these  interests  leads  to  a  more  enlightened 
view  and  a  more  consistent  and  unrestricted  line  of 
daily  living;  until,  as  he  approaches  maturity,  he 
unifies  this  great  variety  of  interests  into  a  more 
or  less  clear  and  consistent  ideal  of  life  or  guide  to 
conduct.  It  is  evidence  of  a  high  grade  of  culture 
when  one  becomes  so  dominated  by  a  worthy,  well- 
unified  ideal  that  one  leads  a  consistent,  ener- 
getic, and  well-ordered  life.  Most  persons  are  merely 
dominated  in  succession  by  things  which  appeal 


SELF-REALIZATION  181 

temporarily  to  them  with  great  intensity;  or  they 
fall  into  steady  or  consistent  conduct  on  a  low  level 
of  worth  or  worthiness. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  any  education  which  seeks 
to  fit  for  helpful,  hopeful  living  must  balance  one's 
powers,  enlarge  and  enrich  one's  experience,  and 
thus  develop  large,  sane,  hopeful  views  of  life  and  the 
world.  The  individual  then  finds  it  possible  in  the 
course  of  his  own  development  to  unify  all  this 
varied  and  rich  experience  into  ideals  which  shall 
act  as  powerful  and  ennobling  motives,  resulting  in 
purposeful  action  and  achieving  further  self-develop- 
ment or  self-realization.  Any  teacher  who  wishes 
his  work  to  be  of  permanent  value  must  pursue  that 
work  in  view  of  the  way  in  which  the  human  being 
naturally  grows  into  the  appreciation  of  his  own 
powers  and  his  own  destiny.  One  who  wishes,  then, 
to  continue  in  useful  activities  in  any  calling  or 
profession,  must  find  in  his  experience  some  great 
steadying  body  of  knowledge,  resulting  in  a  serene 
belief  in  the  worthiness  of  his  cause  and  a  profound 
faith  in  the  beneficence  of  human  life.  Then  he  will 
form  ideals  of  life  and  conduct  which  will  energize 
his  powers  and  worthily  direct  his  actions.  In  such 
way  he  becomes  a  sane,  vigorous,  helpful  worker, 
whose  vocation  is  a  further  means  of  self-develop- 
ment to  him,  and  will  be  a  beneficence  to  all  about 
him.  For  work  is  never  successful  in  its  higher 


182  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

aspects  unless  it  arise  from  the  inspiration  of  great 
beliefs.  Indeed,  the  results  of  one's  work  are  already 
predetermined  by  the  belief  one  holds  about  the  dig- 
nity or  value  or  need  of  such  work.  One's  nerves 
and  muscles  are  readily  palsied  by  indifference  or 
strengthened  by  enthusiasm.  In  fact,  everywhere, 
one's  point  of  view  gives  form  to  one's  ideal.  "  Is  a 
mile  much  ?  "  asked  a  boy  of  his  father.  '"  That  de- 
pends," said  the  father,  "  on  circumstances.  If  one 
is  riding  in  a  sixty-horse-power  automobile,  a  mile 
is  a  short  distance;  but  if  it  is  the  last  mile  of  a 
Marathon  race  that  is  under  consideration,  it  is 
much  longer." 

Sometimes  there  is  a  moral  significance  involved 
in  the  point  of  view.  Diogenes  was  sitting  in  his 
traditional  tub,  eating  his  frugal  meal  of  boiled  cab- 
bage, when  one  of  the  king's  courtiers  with  his  suite 
of  followers  came  by  his  domicile.  "  O  my  friend 
Aristippus !  "  said  Diogenes,  "  if  thou  hadst  learned 
to  live  on  cabbage,  thou  wouldst  not  have  to  flatter 
kings."  "  O  my  friend  Diogenes !  "  replied  Aristip- 
pus, "if  thou  hadst  learned  to  flatter  kings,  thou 
wouldst  not  have  to  live  on  cabbage."  It  is  a  differ- 
ence of  point  of  view.  I  have  already  said  that  true 
ideals  of  education  will  always  be  found  to  be  identi- 
fied with  true  ideals  of  life.  When  a  man  has  to 
some  extent  determined  on  the  purpose  of  life, — 
what  he  shall  live  for  and  what  it  is  possible  for  him 


SELF-REALIZATION  183 

to  accomplish,  —  it  will  appear  certain  to  him  that 
he  must  be  educated  for  efficiency  in  such  living. 
Doubtless  it  was  some  such  thing  as  this  that  Her- 
bert Spencer  meant  when  he  enunciated,  in  that 
notable  definition  of  his,  that  one  must  be  educated 
for  complete  living.  Life  is  so  diversified  in  its  aims, 
achievements,  and  possibilities,  that  its  purpose  al- 
most defies  inclosure  in  definition ;  so  it  is  with  the 
purpose  of  education.  One  may  speak  here  in  glit- 
tering generalities,  but  seldom  with  accuracy  and 
precision.  Happily,  since  definitions  of  ideals  are 
chiefly  for  inspiration,  one  can  do  much  in  this  direc- 
tion without  being  compelled  to  strive  for  absolute 
accuracy.  It  is,  I  think,  unquestionable  that  final 
or  ultimate  aspects  of  human  life  must  be  founded 
on  human  possibilities,  —  that  is,  life  shall  mean  all 
that  it  is  possible  for  man  to  achieve  for  himself. 
This  implies  full  knowledge  of  all  the  powers  and 
capabilities  of  man,  —  not  man  as  at  present  de- 
veloped, but  man  as  he  may  be  when  he  has  run  the 
full  course  which  God  through  evolution  has  planned 
for  him.  And  so  education  should  follow  the  same 
trend,  and  should  in  a  way  prepare  for  achieving  life 
to  the  limit  in  any  age  or  stage  of  development. 

In  the  case  of  the  individual  being,  one  must  re- 
gard the  limitations  of  the  stage  of  development  and 
other  facts  of  present  environment.  So  in  education, 
our  efforts  must  turn  to  what  is  possible  as  well 


1 84  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

as  to  what  is  desirable.  Long  and  patient  study  of 
man's  nature,  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual,  will 
eventually  point,  even  if  somewhat  vaguely,  to  the 
realization  of  the  marvelous  issues  of  his  possibili- 
ties ;  and  vague  as  is  such  evidence,  it  will  serve  as 
one  point  in  a  long  line  of  perspective  which  shall 
help  to  show  the  trend  of  movement  by  which  man 
has  advanced  and  is  advancing  and  may  advance  to- 
ward perfection.  To  have  thus  the  ultimate  ideal  of 
human  perfection  as  the  aim  of  education,  vitalizes 
effort,  develops  enthusiasm,  and  shows  the  general 
direction  of  educational  effort,  though  it  be  granted 
that  much  desirable  definition  is  lacking. 

Such  ideals  are  necessary  to  give  general  direction 
to  effort,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  ultimate  or 
final  ends  in  education,  as  in  life  itself,  are  not  usually 
effective  or  definitely  impressive  to  young  students 
or  to  average  teachers.  Therefore,  subordinate  or 
intermediate  aims  must  be  set  up.  These  subordi- 
nate aims  are  like  stakes  set  up  between  the  observer 
and  a  far-off  goal  to  show  the  direction  of  immediate 
movement.  It  is  evident  that  one  could  not  know 
where  to  set  up  the  near-by  stakes  unless  the  goal 
had  been  first  fairly  well  established.  And,  given  the 
goal,  there  is  still  needed  a  full  survey  of  the  inter- 
mediate territory  before  the  best  avenue  of  immedi- 
ate advance  can  be  known.  These  subordinate  ideals 
are  way  stations,  so  near  to  the  point  of  starting,  in 


SELF-REALIZATION  185 

many  instances,  that  the  journey  there  seems  easy; 
yet  they  are  so  situated  that  the  distance  covered  is 
in  the  right  line  toward  the  goal,  and  not  in  some 
other  direction.  Subordinate  aims,  to  be  effective, 
must  be  easily  and  almost  immediately  realizable ; 
which  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  the  next 
way  station  must  be  in  full  sight  from  the  starting 
point.  But  such  a  way  station  may  readily  be  regarded 
as  a  terminal  point  by  the  easily  satisfied  passengers ; 
and  students  need  to  be  guarded  against  thinking  of 
subordinate  ends  as  ultimate  ideals.  These  way  sta- 
tions must  be  seen  for  what  they  really  are,  namely, 
temporary  landing  stages,  incident  to  the  onward 
movement  toward  finalities,  —  toward  the  highest 
and  best. 

We  come  now  to  the  question,  What  is  this  highest 
and  best  in  life  and  in  education  toward  which  all 
effort  must  be  directed  ?  Frankly,  no  one  yet  knows 
fully.  So  long  as  there  is  uncertainty  here,  all  sur- 
veys of  the  intermediate  ground  will  be  full  of  con- 
flict and  doubt,  —  that  is,  they  will  be  more  or  less 
tentative.  But,  fortunately  for  education,  much  new 
knowledge  about  finalities  in  this  province  is  being 
discovered,  and  soon  we  shall  have  a  unity  of  belief, 
if  not  an  entire  agreement,  as  to  the  exact  location 
and  nature  of  the  ultimate  ideal ;  or  at  least  a  prac- 
tical agreement  as  to  the  general  direction  in  which 
education  must  move  in  order  to  reach  perfection  as 


1 86  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

its  goal.  We  are  doubtless  now  in  no  worse  condi- 
tion in  this  respect  as  to  education  than  were  the 
great  explorers  in  regard  to  the  poles  of  the  earth. 
Until  lately  no  one  had  reached  either  pole,  yet  the 
exact  location  and  true  nature  of  both  were  fairly 
well  known.  There  is  little  difficulty  in  determining 
the  general  direction  which  must  be  taken  by  the 
explorers,  but  there  is  still  infinite  discussion  of 
detail  as  to  routes  and  resting  places  for  surveying 
parties.  Explorers  know  fairly  well  where  they  wish 
to  go,  but  they  seem  to  be  involved  in  more  or  less 
confusion  during  the  journey.  So  modern  research 
in  psychology,  philosophy,  social  economy,  and  other 
related  studies  have  fairly  well  located  the  final  ideal 
of  education  in  the  perfection  of  the  individual,  elu- 
sive and  mystifying  as  this  term  remains. 

Individual  perfection  does  not  necessarily  mean 
individualism ;  for  the  highest  good  of  the  individual 
can  be  achieved,  not  in  seclusion,  but  in  social  and 
cooperative  activities.  It  is  fully  within  human  nature 
to  be  social,  or  even  to  be  sociable;  but  no  society 
can  rise  higher  in  its  ideals  or  results  than  is  made 
possible  by  the  character  and  training  of  the  indi- 
vidual units  of  which  it  is  made  up.  The  coopera- 
tive principle  which  underlies  society  is  a  marvelous 
force  for  multiplying  and  magnifying  the  good  in  the 
individual ;  and  this  principle  itself,  being  grounded 
in  human  nature,  is  involved  in  human  culture.  So 


SELF-REALIZATION  187 

the  best  test  yet  discovered  by  which  the  interme- 
diate and  temporary  standards  of  education  may  be 
examined  is  the  standard  of  the  greatest  good  to  the 
individual  as  a  moral  person.  This  standard  is  still 
maintained,  too,  in  its  essentials,  if  we  say  the  great- 
est good  to  the  greatest  number  of  individuals ;  but 
it  must  be  always  the  good  or  the  perfection  of  the 
individual.  There  is  nothing  else  worth  perfecting. 
I  am  sure  that  future  study  and  discovery  will  not 
necessitate  the  setting  up  of  a  different  standard 
from  this  individual  good  or  perfection,  but  I  feel 
that  future  discovery  will  fill  these  terms  with 
greater  significance  and  outline  their  meaning  with 
more  definiteness. 

We  have  here,  then,  an  ideal  of  education  suffi- 
ciently definite  to  direct  present  action,  and  suffi- 
ciently comprehensive  to  include  all  the  variables 
involved  in  human  development  for  all  time.  This 
is  the  final  standard  by  which  to  judge  all  educa- 
tional work, — its  practices,  schemes,  and  suggestions. 
In  every  case,  while  trying  to  achieve  immediate  edu- 
cational aims,  nothing  must  be  done  or  permitted 
which  will  tend  to  dwarf  the  original  powers  of  the 
child,  or  retard  or  pervert  in  any  way  his  final  achieve- 
ment of  the  highest  which  his  nature  and  environ- 
ment make  possible  for  him.  In  everyday,  practical 
life  many  things  that  we  are  compelled  to  do  for  the 
gratification  of  immediate  needs  are  in  themselves  or 


1 88  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

their  results  stultifying  to  our  higher  powers  and  de- 
structive to  our  highest  possibilities.  These  are  the 
limitations  of  environment  in  practical  life  placed  on 
our  perfectible  human  nature.  This  retardation  may 
come  from  the  obstruction  of  our  powers  by  neces- 
sary but  monotonous  routine;  sometimes,  however, 
and  perhaps  more  frequently,  from  the  gradual  lower- 
ing of  our  ideals  of  life  by  the  common,  possibly  the 
brutalizing  details  of  daily  living.  The  boy  who  found 
a  silver  dollar  in  the  dust  at  his  feet  never  saw  the 
stars  again,  but  rested  in  the  hope  of  greater  suc- 
cess on  the  lower  plane  thus  emphasized  in  his  life. 
It  is  important  to  note  that  striving  for  the  highest 
personal  or  individual  good  is  never  of  the  nature  of 
selfishness,  but  is  always  altruistic  in  character.  That 
such  action  results  in  the  highest  good  to  the  indi- 
vidual actor,  who,  for  the  moment,  has  forgotten 
selfish  ends,  is  also  within  human  nature,  and  is  a 
part  of  its  natural  development.  The  old  theory  that 
all  human  motives  are  grounded  in  selfishness  has 
persisted  so  long  only  because,  in  the  course  of  the 
argument,  two  separate  meanings  are  fitted  into  the 
middle  term  "selfishness."  The  English  language 
needs  another  adjective  which,  while  it  shall  express 
the  personal  element  indicated  by  the  adjective 
selfish,  shall  have  none  of  the  exclusiveness  of  that 
word.  All  this  will  become  clearer  in  the  years  to 
come,  when  the  psychologist  and  the  philosopher 


SELF-REALIZATION  1 89 

shall  have  found  out  more  about  the  nature  of  man 
and  the  possibilities  for  development  by  individual 
effort  and  social  cooperation ;  and  so  the  moral  and 
spiritual  standards  of  man's  life  will  be  more  and 
more  definitely  named. 

Education  must  seek  to  realize  such  an  ideal  for 
every  person  in  every  community.  But  our  busy 
workaday  world  is  concerned  with  practical  results 
and  intermediate  standards,  and  only  the  few  see 
fully  the  importance  of  ultimate  standards.  In  the 
meantime,  it  is  our  business  to  help  to  the  realization 
of  these  more  immediate  ideals,  all  the  while  trying, 
however,  to  realize  them  in  such  a  way  as  shall  still 
leave  open  the  pathway  for  each  individual  to  seek 
his  own  higher  interests  when  opportunity  shall  offer. 
And  above  all,  it  should  be  the  office  of  those  of  us 
who  have  set  apart  our  time  for  such  study,  to  pre- 
vent wrong  standards  from  being  set  up  at  inter- 
mediate stations,  always  insisting  that  immediate 
standards,  even  while  made  prominent,  should  mark 
some  progress  on  the  right  way.  Wrong  standards 
not  only  lead  to  activities  that  do  not  educate  rightly, 
but  prevent  activities  toward  other  and  better  ideals. 
Many  immediate  ideals  may  be  right  in  themselves, 
but  if  realized,  they  tend  to  make  us  forget  that  there 
is  anything  higher  or  farther  on.  It  is  the  teacher's 
office  to  keep  the  public  reminded  of  the  larger  hope 
and  the  truer  aim. 


190  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

I  have  already  suggested  that  ultimate  ideals  are 
not  so  immediately  effective  as  are  some  less  com- 
plete but  more  immediate  ones.  Their  function  is 
rather  to  form  a  general  basis  on  which  to  build  all 
minor  theories ;  to  furnish  the  ground  for  growth  of 
conviction  and  an  undying  belief;  to  create  a  great 
faith  which  shall  slowly  but  surely  guide  all  action. 
The  belief  in  the  perfectibility  of  man  and  the  essen- 
tial nobleness  of  his  nature  tends  to  keep  one's  mind 
serene  in  the  midst  of  the  necessary  irritations  of 
one's  daily  teaching.  It  is  this  that  makes  one  un- 
willing to  give  way  too  easily  to  less  noble  ends  and 
less  exacting  standards  of  work.  But  one  must  ana- 
lyze the  great  ideal  into  its  elements  and  seek  to 
realize  these  smaller  aims  in  due  course,  so  that 
each  effort  in  itself  shall  tend  in  the  right  direction, 
and  cooperating  with  all  others,  help  in  the  end  to 
the  realization  of  the  highest.  The  course  of  study, 
as  planned  for  the  various  grades  of  a  school  system, 
is  such  an  attempt  to  analyze  the  great  ideal  into  its 
components,  and  to  select  and  arrange  in  due  order 
of  immediateness  those  ideas  of  human  experience 
which,  when  mastered,  constitute  the  process  of 
education. 

Such  an  analysis  proceeds  until  the  veriest  minu- 
tiae are  specified  and  the  exact  order  of  progress  is 
indicated;  until  the  first-grade  teacher  is  furnished 
with  hundreds  of  immediate  problems,  whose  mastery 


SELF-REALIZATION  191 

by  the  pupils  will  constitute  the  realization  of  many 
immediate  and  subordinate  ideals.  Nor  does  the 
primary  teacher  always  consciously  think  out  the 
realization  of  these  minor  ideals  for  the  little  child. 
It  is  enough  that  the  great  ideal  has  produced 
in  her  an  abiding  faith  in  all  higher  things,  and 
has  set  the  whole  machinery  of  her  mind  and  na- 
ture in  time  and  tune  with  the  higher  harmonies. 
Then  she  will  unconsciously  put  into  the  smallest 
act  of  teaching  the  quality  that  makes  it  of  infinite 
worth.  With  such  a  teacher  the  problem  of  two 
times  two  takes  on  something  of  the  character  of 
the  eternal  verities,  akin  to  the  laws  by  which  the 
stars  move  in  their  courses.  It  is  when  the  primary 
teacher  has  no  such  clear  conception  of  ultimate  aims, 
and  no  such  abiding  faith  in  the  highest  destiny  of 
her  pupils,  that  she  rests  in  these  preliminary  ideals 
and  descends  to  unworthy  methods  in  teaching  the 
multitudinous  details  of  her  daily  program.  It  is 
when  the  teacher  has  no  such  vision  that  she  finds 
her  work  drudgery,  and  makes  learning  a  weariness 
of  the  flesh  for  her  pupils. 

After  this  general  outline  of  the  relation  of  self- 
realization  to  the  preceding  ideas  of  self-activity, 
self-revelation,  and  self-direction,  it  is  proper  to  enter 
into  a  closer  and  more  logical  analysis  of  the  theme. 
It  is  evident  that  the  first  steps  of  self-realization 
have  to  do  with  the  home  and  school  life  of  the 


1 92  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

child.  What  the  early  stages  of  self-realization  shall 
be,  therefore,  are  conditioned  not  alone  by  the 
nature  of  the  child,  but  also  by  the  character  of 
the  home  of  the  child  and  the  school  in  which  he 
receives  his  early  formal  education.  We  are  here 
especially  concerned  with  the  school ;  but  the  char- 
acter of  the  school  is  largely  determined  by  the 
ideals  or  aims  of  education  held  by  the  teachers  and 
by  the  methods  which  they  employ  in  their  work. 
This  makes  it  apparent  that  at  this  point  of  the 
discussion  it  is  necessary  to  enter  into  a  careful 
analysis  of  educational  aims  and  of  the  various 
methods  of  using  the  subjects  of  study,  which  be- 
come in  this  way  the  means  by  which  the  teacher 
realizes  the  aims  which  he  holds,  and  thus  furthers 
or  retards  the  self-development  of  the  pupil. 

In  this  analysis  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  ex- 
plain how  the  various  so-called  immediate  aims  may 
be  unified  into  one  aim  by  higher  and  higher  gen- 
eralization ;  and  further,  there  will  be  an  attempt  to 
show  that  each  branch  of  subject  matter  studied  in 
school  has  a  special  function  which  no  other  subject 
is  so  well  fitted  to  serve,  in  the  self-realization  of 
the  pupil,  though  it  is  not  intended  to  make  this 
phase  of  the  subject  a  matter  of  prolonged  discus- 
sion. This  suggestion  of  the  special  culture  value 
of  each  subject  of  study  does  not  have  any  refer- 
ence to  the  old-time  view  of  psychology,  in  which 


SELF-REALIZATION  193 

the  mind  was  considered  as  made  up  of  so-called 
faculties.  This  will  all  be  kept  clear  in  the  mind  of 
the  reader  by  a  reference  to  the  chapter  on  The 
Point  of  View. 

I  have  already  spoken  tentatively  of  the  final  or 
ultimate  aim  of  education  for  any  individual  as  the 
achievement  of  the  highest  good  or  his  personal  per- 
fection, well  realizing  at  the  time  the  vagueness  of 
these  terms.  I  have  also  said  that  such  statement 
of  an  educational  ideal  has  in  it  little  of  inspiration 
to  the  average  student  or  teacher;  and  that  only 
when  it  is  interpreted  in  its  details,  that  is,  in  the 
subordinate  ideals  or  elements  of  which  it  is  made 
up,  does  it  become  effective  in  actual  learning  or 
teaching.  It  seems  appropriate  here,  therefore,  to 
attempt  a  detailed  analysis  of  the  final  educational 
ideal  proposed  in  these  pages,  in  order  to  show  its 
practical  application  to  daily  teaching.  If  such  an- 
alysis shall  be  in  any  degree  successful,  the  ideal 
thus  developed  will  then  not  only  serve  as  a  great 
steadying  principle,  but  will  be  seen  to  permeate 
all  education,  giving  significance  to  many  details 
of  daily  teaching,  which  without  such  view  become 
monotonous  and  unmeaning  drudgery. 

It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  this  prob- 
lem of  finding  a  working  aim  of  education  as  a  pre- 
liminary condition  to  the  determination  of  courses 
of  study  and  methods  of  teaching  is  as  old  as 


I94  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

human  history.  It  has  been  present  consciously  or 
unconsciously  in  all  study  of  human  progress,  espe- 
cially human  progress  as  affected  by  the  idea  of  the 
school  in  any  form  as  a  means  of  human  advance- 
ment. One  must  have  special  reason,  therefore,  for 
attempting  again  the  solution  of  a  problem  which 
has  hitherto  baffled  honest,  earnest,  and  capable 
thinkers.  This  reason  seems  to  me  to  be  presented 
now  in  the  marvelous  development,  in  very  recent 
years,  of  new  and  special  phases  of  educational  doc- 
trine and  practice  brought  about  by  enthusiasts  in 
special  lines  of  educational  endeavor.  The  well- 
known  dissatisfaction  with  old  aims  and  methods, 
and  the  evident  educational  unrest  in  all  depart- 
ments of  teaching,  have  given  rise  to  an  infinite 
variety  of  new  aims  and  new  practices.  These  are 
urged  forward  by  enthusiasts,  whose  view  is  clear 
and  intense  if  sometimes  narrow  in  range  and  un- 
fortunate in  form  of  expression;  but  the  very 
enthusiasms  possible  to  such  limited  and  intense 
view  have  led  to  a  fuller  understanding  of  many  of 
the  new  aims  and  methods.  Consequently  the  stu- 
dent of  to-day  has  before  him  a  wealth  of  material 
which  makes  possible  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  education  a  systematic  comparative  study  of 
aims  and  practices.  It  has  seemed  to  the  writer, 
therefore,  that  there  is  now  good  reason  for  the 
making  of  a  detailed  analysis  of  these  one-sided 


SELF-REALIZATION  195 

claims,  to  the  end  that  the  good  in  each  may  to 
some  extent  be  correlated  with  what  is  of  permanent 
value  in  all  others.  In  this  way,  it  is  believed,  there 
may  be  made  to  appear  gradually  the  elements 
which,  rightly  unified,  may  be  capable  of  expression 
as  a  final  organic  aim  of  education.  Such  analysis, 
even  if  it  should  not  result  in  a  final  condensed 
statement  of  a  final  aim  (or  the  final  aim),  will  at 
least  form  a  basis  for  inquiring  into  the  functions  of 
the  various  branches  of  learning  in  the  formal  edu- 
cation of  the  individual.  And  this  study,  in  turn, 
will  lay  a  sure  foundation  for  the  methods  of  culture 
leading  to  the  right  growth  and  development  of  a 
human  being. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  writer,  therefore,  to  con- 
sider somewhat  the  various  definitions  which  have 
been  given  by  the  great  students  of  education,  and 
to  make  such  analysis  and  interpretation  of  these 
as  shall  tend  to  reveal  their  inner  meaning  and  to 
show  their  proper  relation  to  the  question  of  public 
education.  The  test  to  be  applied  in  each  case  is 
the  perfection  or  highest  and  truest  development  of 
the  individual  to  be  educated.  This  perfection,  how- 
ever, is  not  intended  to  be  any  selfish  development 
of  a  person  as  a  recluse,  but  the  development  of 
each  person  as  an  individual  element  of  that  social 
whole,  participation  in  the  organic  activities  of  which 
alone  makes  possible  complete  individual  human 


196  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

development.  And  if  at  first  there  be  some  vague- 
ness in  the  test  itself,  the  meaning  and  range  of  the 
term  "  human  development "  may  become  clearer  as 
the  discussion  proceeds. 

It  is  manifest  that  to  get  at  the  real  spirit  of  such 
inquiry  one  must  examine  not  only  those  formal 
statements  called  definitions,  but  also  those  inci- 
dental statements  in  which  educators  have  sug- 
gested, in  a  less  formal  way,  their  beliefs  and 
practices,  so  that  one  may  get  at  the  very  heart 
of  the  question  regardless  of  the  formal  rhetorical 
and  logical  laws  governing  the  forming  and  state- 
ment of  definitions. 

It  may  be  an  easy  beginning  in  this  matter  if  we 
examine  a  little  more  fully  and  definitely  the  funda- 
mental idea  on  which  the  entire  discussion  is  based. 
It  has  been  assumed  that  self-activity  is  the  primal 
and  fundamental  characteristic  of  the  human  being 
as  distinguished  from  objects  of  the  material  world 
about  us.  Education  as  growth  or  development, 
then,  has  special  reference  to  changes  which  may 
be  induced  in  such  being  through  his  own  effort. 
A  self-active  being  is  subject  to  appeal  from 
motives ;  and  while  the  human  being  is  immature, 
this  motive  may  be  supplied  from  the  outside.  But 
presently  the  self  creates  its  own  motives  and  be- 
comes self-directive.  This  is  a  movement  in  growth 
or  development.  While  the  direction  of  this  growth 


SELF-REALIZATION  197 

is  somewhat  dependent  on  the  nature  of  the  motive 
supplied  (environment),  particularly  in  youth,  yet  it 
is  clearly  limited  to  what  is  possible  for  a  being  so 
constituted.  Whatever  possibilities  lie  in  a  being 
may  be  developed  through  proper  influences;  but 
no  result  in  perfection  of  any  kind  can  be  attained 
which  is  not  implied  in  the  original  nature  of  the 
being.  This  simply  means  that  growth  or  develop- 
ment toward  perfection  is  possible  only  in  so  far  as 
this  growth  or  development  or  perfection  is  poten- 
tially in  the  being  at  birth.  Education  does  not 
change  the  nature  of  the  being,  but  only  makes 
the  best  of  what  is  already  in  germ  (that  is,  pos- 
sible) in  the  being  at  birth.  And  when  the  human 
being  has  become  partly  self-directive  he  always 
seeks  to  change  his  environment  when  it  is  not 
already  satisfactory,  enabling  him  the  better  to  give 
development  to  other  potentialities  of  his  nature 
not  hitherto  reached  and  moved  into  growth  by  mo- 
tives and  agencies  already  existing.  This  tendency 
accounts  for  the  creation  of  institutions,  and  inci- 
dentally of  the  school,  as  a  special  agency,  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  youth  of  the  nation. 

The  great  fact  that  the  results  of  education  are 
limited  by  the  nature  of  the  being  to  be  educated 
is  of  grave  importance  in  determining  the  trend  and 
the  methods  of  education,  and  is  sufficient  reason  for 
the  study  of  psychology  by  all  prospective  teachers. 


198  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

It  also  shows  that  the  aim  of  education,  in  order  to 
be  helpful  in  determining  methods  of  teaching,  must 
be  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  the  being  to  be 
educated.  In  so  far  as  this  statement  (or  definition) 
of  the  aim  can  be  made  to  expose  or  explain  the 
nature  of  the  being,  and  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  made 
to  show  what  this  nature  may  grow  into  when  edu- 
cated rightly,  it  will  become  more  and  more  helpful 
in  determining  methods  of  education. 

For  the  reasons  given  above  one  finds  various 
forms  of  statement  for  the  aim  of  education  by  dif- 
ferent writers,  as  one  strives  either  .for  conciseness 
of  logical  statement  (definition)  or  for  helpful  and 
inspiring  statement  of  the  ideal  involved.  In  the  lat- 
ter case  the  form  becomes  loose  and  complicated, 
approaching  description  rather  than  definition  in 
its  strict  sense. 

The  writer  presents  herewith  eight  different  forms 
of  the  definition  of  the  aim  of  education  as  used 
in  these  pages,  varying  from  the  form  of  logical 
and  universal  definition  through  varying  degrees 
of  complexity  to  full  expositions  of  the  meaning  of 
human  nature. 

The  following  eight  definitions,  therefore,  are 
merely  different  forms  of  statement  for  the  same 
content  or  meaning,  the  form  of  statement  alone 
being  changed. 

i.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  human  perfection. 


SELF-REALIZATION  199 

2.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  the  perfection  of 
the  individual  human  being. 

3.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  to  bring  to  perfec- 
tion all  the  capacities  for  good  inherent  in  each 
individual  human  being. 

4.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  to  develop  into 
the  greatest  possible  efficiency  the  innate  capacities 
of  the  human  being. 

5.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  to  develop  the 
self-activity  of  the  immature  human  being  into  self- 
consciousness  and  self-direction,  with  self-perfection 
or  self-realization  as  the  standard. 

6.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  the  transform- 
ing of  the  self-active,  irresponsible,  immature  human 
being  into  a  responsible,  self-directive  person. 

7.  The  true  aim  of  education  is  to  develop  the 
self-activity  of  the  individual  into  its  higher  correla- 
tives of  self-consciousness  and  self-direction  by  proc- 
esses controlled  by  correct  ideals  of  self-perfection. 

8.  The  true  aim  of  education   is  to  cause  the 
self-active,  immature  individual  to  enlarge  and  enrich 
his  experience  till  he  becomes  capable  of  directing 
his  own  conduct  and  disposed  to  make  the  most 
of  his  opportunities. 

The  first  of  these  definitions,  "The  true  aim  of 
education  is  human  perfection,"  is  universal  in  form. 
It  does  not  attempt  an  explanation  of  its  own  mean- 
ing. It  has  the  correct  logical  form ;  that  is,  it  places 


200  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  thing  to  be  defined  in  a  suitable  genus  (perfec- 
tion) and  then  expresses  the  special  limitations  of 
the  species  by  an  adjective  (human).  "  Perfection " 
is  a  condition  arrived  at  through  progressive  de- 
velopment of  something  capable  of  progress  toward 
greater  worth.  The  word  "human"  expresses  the 
essence  of  the  being  capable  of  education.  The  right 
interpretation  and  expression  of  the  full  meaning  of 
these  two  concepts  ("perfection"  and  "human")  would 
be  a  complete  theory  of  education  and  would  require 
a  volume  for  its  rendering.  In  fact,  all  the  preceding 
pages  of  this  book  are  in  a  partial  way  an  expansion 
of  this  interpretation,  made  in  this  case  before  the 
statement  by  definition,  and  intended  as  preparation 
for  the  acceptance  by  readers  of  this  definition  when 
stated  and  still  further  explained.  This  is  a  common 
method  of  procedure  in  argument,  —  partial  explana- 
tion by  way  of  preparation,  full  statement  in  con- 
densed form,  and  then  final  explanation.  In  this 
way  the  mind  of  the  reader  or  hearer  is  led  by  easy 
gradation  to  final  acceptance. 

When  the  above  method  is  not  practicable  from 
lack  of  time  or  lack  of  space  or  for  other  reasons,  an 
attempt  is  sometimes  made  to  explain  more  or  less 
within  the  definition  itself.  In  some  cases  also  there 
is  the  further  purpose  of  placing  special  emphasis 
upon  a  particular  interpretation  of  some  element  of 
the  original  concepts.  The  remaining  seven  forms 


SELF-REALIZATION  201 

of  definition  are  of  this  character,  some  of  them  for 
mere  explanation  and  others  for  special  emphasis. 
All  have  the  same  content  when  properly  interpreted, 
for  all  hold  the  essence  of "  perfection  "  and  "  human." 

Before  attempting  the  discussion  of  emphasis,  we 
shall  try  to  give  a  somewhat  full  explanation  of  the 
meaning  of  these  two  concepts,  as  used  in  the  defini- 
tion, after  which  certain  attempts  at  emphasis  in  par- 
ticular expressions  of  several  of  the  other  forms 
will  be  easily  and  clearly  seen. 

First,  then,  "  perfection."  The  idea  expressed  here 
is  one  of  condition,  —  not  a  static  condition,  but  one 
subject  to  further  development.  Such  condition  is 
always  limited  as  to  its  possibilities  by  the  nature  of 
the  thing  referred  to.  What  perfection  requires  is  the 
best  possible  for  that  special  thing.  1 1  has  as  its  oppo- 
nent the  immature  and  the  unsatisfactory  and  the 
unfinished.  This  statement  hints  at  a  still  higher 
standard  by  which  the  "best  possible"  in  any  case 
is  itself  measured  or  determined.  And  thus  we  have 
raised  for  us  the  world-old  question  of  the  best,  the 
highest  good,  the  "summum  bonum"  of  old-time 
philosophy.  Let  us  not  be  alarmed  by  the  specter. 
It  is  not  essential  to  progress  that  we  be  able  sud- 
denly to  solve  this  seemingly  insolvable  problem 
of  the  ages.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  keep  at  the 
problem,  shedding  on  the  question  whatever  addi- 
tional light  the  new  age  provides.  The  history  of 


202  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  human  race  shows  unmistakable  progress,  be- 
cause the  race  has  unconsciously  or  semiconsciously 
moved  toward  the  light,  however  dim  this  light  has 
been.  It  seems  to  be  imbedded  in  the  nature  of 
things  that  obedience  to  the  light  —  movement 
toward  the  light  —  places  one  in  position  to  see 
the  greater  light,  to  discover  the  greater  truth. 

The  progress  of  the  race  has  always  been  subject 
to  this  peculiar  relation  of  knowledge  of  truth  to 
the  use  of  truth.  The  seer,  the  poet,  the  prophet, 
and  the  philosopher  have  in  all  ages  had  their  hori- 
zon widened  by  the  partial  realization  of  their  visions 
by  men  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life ;  and  the  final 
vision  is  delayed  till  realization,  now  so  far  behind, 
shall  partly  catch  up  with  thought.  Practice  tries 
out  theory,  sometimes  correcting  its  defects.  Visions 
of  seers,  prophets,  and  philosophers  are  always  par- 
tial, sometimes  only  partly  correct.  The  realization 
in  practical  life  of  all  the  truth  thus  revealed,  opens 
the  way  for  truer  and  larger  visions,  and  in  time  for 
new  progress  in  practical  affairs.  Those  who  do  the 
will  of  the  Father  are  those  who  finally  come  to  know 
of  the  doctrine,  —  thought  being  fruitful  only  when 
supported  by  practical  obedience  in  daily  living.  If, 
therefore,  we  do  not  yet  know  what  absolute  perfec- 
tion is,  because  we  do  not  yet  know  our  final  state- 
ment of  good  so  far  as  human  progress  is  concerned, 
history  begins  to  show  in  perspective  the  trend  of 


SELF-REALIZATION  203 

action  which  is  for  the  best ;  and  so  we  are  able  to 
put  up  signboards  which  indicate  the  general  direc- 
tion to  the  right  station,  though  we  cannot  yet  place 
the  goal  with  finality.  So  it  is  to  the  other  con- 
cept of  our  definition  —  its  "human"  character  — 
that  we  look  for  a  fuller  significance  of  the  concept 
"  perfection." 

Here  we  are  again  met,  this  time  very  definitely, 
by  the  fact  that  perfection  for  any  being  is  strictly 
limited  by  the  possibilities  inherent  in  the  being 
whose  perfection  is  sought.  Human  perfection  is, 
therefore,  bound  up  in  possibility  in  the  inherent 
nature  of  the  human  being,  to  be  unfolded  and 
brought  to  perfect  realization  by  a  process  known 
as  education.  We  are  driven  back  again  then  to  a 
fuller  study  of  the  nature  of  man  as  an  educable  be- 
ing. The  true  aim  of  his  education  is  to  produce  all 
the  good  that  can  be  made  of  this  being;  and  the 
methods  of  education  will  be  determined  by  joint 
consideration  of  this  nature  and  this  discovered  aim. 

No  one  yet  knows  all  the  meanings  of  the  word 
"self."  Many  preceding  pages  have  been  given  up  to 
a  preparatory  explanation  of  its  significance.  We  may 
for  the  present  purpose  say  that  the  real  self  is  that 
something  in  each  of  us  which  retains  its  identity 
through  the  long  current  of  its  own  changing  ex- 
periences. Some  recent  psychologists,  as  we  have 
seen,  deny  the  existence  of  an  entity,  because  by 


204  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

physical  experiment  they  have  not  discovered  such 
a  permanent  abiding  self.  But  it  is  not  to  be  discov- 
ered by  such  method,  being  found  only  by  conscious- 
ness supported  by  reason.  The  soul  experiences 
conditions  and  is  conscious  of  these  experienced 
conditions.  The  human  mind  refuses  to  think  of 
these  experiences  as  possible  apart  from  some  being 
capable  of  them.  Therefore,  human  experiences  — 
first  cognized  in  consciousness  and  afterward  inter- 
preted and  systematized  —  prove  the  existence  of 
an  abiding  something  which,  throughout  all  the 
changes  of  these  experiences,  changes  only  as  the 
reflex  influence  of  its  experience  makes  possible.  It 
retains  its  identity,  but  shows  progress  of  develop- 
ment according  to  its  experiences.  This  retention 
of  identity  and  nature  through  differing  stages  of 
growth  is  the  most  interesting  and  suggestive  fact 
of  human  progress.  This  something  which  retains 
its  nature  and  identity,  while  changing  its  stages  of 
culture  by  means  of  its  multiform  experiences,  is 
what  we  call  the  human  soul  (or  spirit).  This,  in 
concrete  form,  each  of  us  recognizes  as  his  own  real 
self,  to  which  each  of  us  constantly  refers  by  the 
various  forms  of  the  personal  pronoun  of  the  first 
person,  —  "  I,"  "  me,"  "  my,"  and  "  mine."  Soul  prog- 
ress (or  growth  or  culture)  toward  perfection  is 
possible  because  the  soul  is  able  thus  to  preserve 
its  identity  while  undergoing  experiences  which 


SELF-REALIZATION  205 

strengthen,  purify,  exalt,  and  ennoble  it,  —  under- 
going change  in  its  stages  of  progress  or  its  condition, 
but  never  losing  its  individual  identity  or  its  human 
nature. 

These  possible  and  actual  experiences  not  only 
prove  the  existence  of  a  sentient  self,  but  they  are 
the  best  revealers  of  its  innate  or  inherent  nature. 
The  whole  nature  of  a  being  is  included  in  or  ex- 
pressed by  what  it  can  do  and  what  it  can  become 
through  such  doing  (experience). 

The  best  reflective  study  of  human  experiences 
shows  that  they  are  all  capable  of  being  included  in 
three  great  classes,  —  thinking,  feeling,  and  willing 
(using  these  terms  in  their  most  inclusive  sense 
or  application).  The  endless  combinations  of  these 
make  up  human  experiences,  so  far  as  experiences 
have  been  reported  or  in  any  way  known.  Since 
no  others  have  yet  been  discovered  and  since  none 
seem  necessary  to  a  rounded  life,  it  is  believed 
no  others  are  possible.  If  others  are  ever  discov- 
ered, it  will  be  because  some  new  environment 
offers  opportunity  for  exercise  of  native  powers 
never  before  called  into  action;  or  because  a  high 
development  of  known  powers  makes  possible  new 
experiences.  In  the  latter  case,  however,  these  higher 
experiences,  developing  out  of  known  powers,  would 
not  indicate  new  capacities  but  rather  new  combi- 
nations of  activities  of  present  powers.  In  the  former 


206  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

case  there  is  no  suggestion  that  even  a  new  environ- 
ment would  do  more  than  increase  the  activities  of 
present  powers.  There  are  further  arguments,  not 
pertinent  here,  which  render  it  practically  certain  that 
the  human  being  will  never  have  any  experience  not 
included  in  thinking,  feeling,  and  willing,  and  their 
infinite  possibilities  of  combination. 

Human  experiences,  reflectively  studied,  not  only 
prove  the  existence  of  an  experiencing  agent,  not 
only  reveal  the  total  nature  and  the  whole  possibil- 
ity of  an  experiencing  agent,  but  they  reveal  a 
universe  of  things  which  these  experiences  concern, 
— the  occasion,  not  the  cause,  of  their  birth.  Ex- 
pressed differently,  the  experiencing  self  as  agent  can 
have  no  experiences  except  as  these  experiences  con- 
cern something  upon  which  this  self  has  employed 
its  powers  in  some  one  or  more  of  its  characteristic 
activities.  Thinking,  feeling,  and  willing  always  con- 
cern something  without  the  existence  of  which  these 
particular  experiences  would  never  have  been  pos- 
sible. The  range  of  objects  with  which  the  human 
soul  may  thus  concern  itself  in  experience  is  as  wide 
as  the  universe  itself,  and  the  multiplicity  of  pos- 
sible experiences  almost  baffles  thought.  Philosoph- 
ically all  things  are  first  divided  into  the  self  and 
the  not  self,  the  latter  being  all  the  universe  ex- 
cept the  individual  soul  or  self.  But  the  self  may 
employ  its  powers  on  itself,  studying  its  own  nature, 


SELF-REALIZATION  207 

as  we  are  to  some  extent  doing  now.  The  whole 
universe,  then,  including  the  self,  is  the  theater  of 
the  self's  activity  or  experience.  At  one  stage  of 
thinking  this  distinction  of  self  and  not  self  was  im- 
portant, but  it  is  now  so  fully  inwrought  into  all 
systems  of  experience,  and  so  thoroughly  implied  in 
all  experience,  as  to  be  of  little  further  significance, 
taking  its  place  at  best  among  the  things  granted 
without  discussion. 

It  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  set  off  human  ex- 
periences into  absolutely  separate  provinces,  because 
of  the  almost  infinite  network  of  relationships  of  the 
almost  infinite  varieties  of  human  experience.  Philos- 
ophers of  all  ages  have  sought  lines  of  absolute 
demarcation,  finding  them  nowhere  except  in  some 
departments  of  mathematical  thinking.  Provisional 
classification  is  helpful  in  thinking,  however,  though 
the  distinctions  suggested  are  neither  absolute  nor 
final. 

In  a  loose  classification,  then,  we  may  say  that 
there  are  three  great  divisions  of  the  universe,  with 
reference  to  the  experiences  of  which  they  are  the 
occasion:  namely  (i)  matter  and  its  qualities;  (2) 
the  self  and  its  aspirations ;  and  (3)  society  and  its 
functions. 

The  first  gives  rise  to  the  sciences  of  mathematics, 
biology  (including  geology),  and  physical  science 
(physics  and  chemistry);  the  second  to  psychology, 


208  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

epistemology,  metaphysics  and  logic,  and  religion; 
the  third  to  sociology,  politics  (including  history), 
ethics,  and  aesthetics  (including  literature).  Thus  we 
have  marked  off  twelve  great  regions  of  possible  ex- 
perience for  a  human  being,  each  province  herein 
named  being  capable  of  multiplying  subdivisions. 
All  subjects  of  study,  however  minute,  whether  in 
school  or  out  of  school,  are  but  subdivisions  of  some 
one  of  these  large  provinces  of  human  experience. 
Daily  lessons  of  school  children  are  but  still  more 
minute  subdivisions;  and  the  changes  which  the 
teacher  hopes  to  produce  in  pupils  from  day  to  day 
are  but  minute  fractions  of  the  total  effect  made 
upon  the  human  being  who  exercises  himself  in  the 
thinking,  feeling,  and  choosing,  which  constitute  his 
experiences  in  these  several  provinces.  To  say  that 
the  human  mind  is  capable  of  these  experiences  is 
to  tell  much  of  its  nature ;  to  know  well  what  these 
experiences  mean  to  a  human  being  is  to  know  well 
human  nature.  To  see  what  all  these  experiences 
mean  for  the  development  of  the  individual  or  for 
human  culture,  is  possible  only  after  one  has  watched 
the  race  go  through  these  experiences  and  noticed 
what  the  effect  has  been  on  the  self  which  has 
had  them.  This  study  can  be  made  only  in  large 
ways  through  the  study  of  history.  From  this 
point  of  view  customs,  laws,  institutions,  art,  litera- 
ture, science,  psychology,  logic,  metaphysics,  —  all 


SELF-REALIZATION  209 

take  on  new  meaning.  They  give  the  key  to  the 
progress  of  the  race  through  the  ages,  show  the  in- 
heritance of  the  individual  in  the  work  of  the  race, 
give  the  basis  for  determining  which  of  all  these 
experiences  lead  most  directly  and  rapidly  toward 
perfection,  and  enable  us  better  and  better  to  under- 
stand what  human  perfection  is.  And  indeed  one's 
judgment  on  such  questions,  other  things  being 
equal,  will  be  proportionate  to  one's  thorough  mas- 
tery of  the  meaning  of  these  great  disciplines  of 
human  life.  Going  through  these  experiences  is  a 
part  of  self-realization. 

Many  volumes  could  be  written  in  further  expla- 
nation of  how  the  experiences  described  constitute 
civilization,  and  how  their  mastery  by  an  individ- 
ual leads  to  his  development  and  tends  toward  the 
development  in  him  of  all  his  best  possibilities. 

A  study  of  the  history  of  education,  had  we  time 
to  follow  it  now,  would  show  that  in  different  coun- 
tries and  different  ages  men  have  been  selecting  the 
most  significant  experiences  of  these  various  great 
disciplines,  arranging  them  in  courses  of  study  and 
learning  the  best  ways  of  presenting  them  to  the 
young.  And  we  should  see  in  such  survey  how  dif- 
ferent nations  have  chosen  different  experiences,  as 
they  believed  in  different  aims;  and  how,  by  study 
and  comparison,  the  race  as  a  whole  has  clarified  its 
vision  as  to  the  nature  of  human  perfection  itself, 


210  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  as  to  which  experiences  most  surely  and  quickly 
bring  the  human  being  into  a  fair  degree  of  develop- 
ment toward  that  standard. 

Comparing  this  first  definition  which  we  have 
been  explaining  with  the  second  of  the  series,  "  The 
true  aim  of  education  is  the  perfection  of  the  indi- 
vidual human  being,"  we  note  that  the  latter  varies 
from  the  former  only  in  the  emphasis  of  a  single  idea, 
implied  but  not  emphasized  in  the  first.  This  is  the 
idea  that  the  educative  process  finds  its  realization 
of  the  aim  in  the  individual.  While  one  may  speak 
of  the  education  of  the  race,  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  nation  or  of  a  people,  these  terms  but 
represent  abstractions.  There  is  no  general  culture 
except  that  which  is  first  secured  and  practiced  by 
individuals.  In  social  efficiency,  while  the  nation 
looks  for  assistance  of  the  whole  people,  the  effi- 
ciency is  that  of  individuals.  While  citizenship  looks 
to  public  service,  the  individual  citizen  gives  the 
tone  to  the  state.  The  phrases  "  education  for  so- 
cial efficiency,"  "education  for  citizenship,"  and  the 
like,  are  expressions  which  emphasize  a  certain  se- 
lection of  experiences  which  the  individual  should 
receive  in  his  education ;  but  it  is  always  the  in- 
dividual who  is  to  be  educated.  Institutions  like 
society  or  the  state  have  no  right  to  exist  unless 
they  are  able  to  safeguard  and  return  to  the  individ- 
ual influences  for  his  personal  betterment.  The 


SELF-REALIZATION  2 1 1 

development  education  seeks  is  always  that  of  the 
individual;  and  if  the  aid  of  human  organizations 
be  sought  in  education,  it  is  always  because  such 
organization  is  helpful  in  its  reflex  influence,  at 
least  to  the  individual. 

The  third  definition,  "  The  true  aim  of  education 
is  to  bring  to  perfection  all  the  capacities  for  good 
inherent  in  each  individual  human  being,"  attempts 
some  explanation  with  the  changing  of  the  emphasis. 
Retaining  in  prominence  the  idea  of  individuality, 
it  attempts  to  suggest  that  not  all  experiences  are 
educative  in  the  best  sense,  but  that  some  expe- 
riences leave  the  individual  in  a  worse  condition 
than  he  was  in  before  he  had  them.  These  capabil- 
ities to  be  changed  for  better  or  for  worse,  which 
are  inherent  in  human  nature,  are  here  technically 
called  capacities;  and  the  definition  attempts  to 
show  that  only  those  experiences  which  lead  their 
subject  toward  the  good,  or  perfection,  are  to  be 
included  in  the  set  exercises  of  the  educational  proc- 
ess. This  definition  retains  the  same  standard  of 
perfection  as  before,  but  explains  the  dangers  of 
human  nature  and  guards  the  educational  aim  and 
practice  by  denoting  a  choice  of  subject  matter. 
It  merely  amplifies  in  a  helpful  way  what  is  fully 
implied  in  the  two  preceding  definitions. 

The  fourth  statement,  "  The  true  aim  of  education 
is  to  develop  into  the  greatest  possible  efficiency 


212  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  innate  capacities  of  the  human  being,"  embodies 
the  explanation  and  the  emphasis  of  both  the  second 
and  the  third  in  one  proposition.  The  fifth  defini- 
tion given,  "  The  true  aim  of  education  is  to  develop 
the  self-activity  of  the  immature  human  being  into 
self-consciousness  and  self-direction,  with  self-perfec- 
tion or  self-realization  as  the  standard,"  holds  the  same 
standard  of  perfection  and  emphasizes  the  idea  that 
it  is  the  perfection  of  the  individual.  But  it  also 
attempts  still  other  explanations  of  the  nature  of 
the  human  being,  and  incidentally  lays  the  basis  for 
methods  of  education.  We  note  the  idea  that  edu- 
cation has  to  do  with  the  immature,  that  is,  with  those 
who  have  not  yet  had  all  the  experiences  needed  to 
lead  to  perfection.  The  definition  assumes  that  in 
such  a  state  the  being  is  self-active,  and  implies  that 
although  self-activity  as  an  attribute  is  proper  at 
the  beginning  of  a  course,  this  power,  in  order  to 
continue  of  worth,  must  so  change  its  form  as  not 
to  lose  its  spontaneity.  In  other  words,  the  growing 
element  of  self-consciousness  must  absorb  the  self- 
activity  into  itself  and  give  it  tone ;  and  both  these 
attributes  must  take  on  the  acquired  power  of  self- 
direction.  There  is  a  suggestion  here  that  self-con- 
sciousness and  self-direction  are  not  wholly  different 
things,  or  states,  or  attributes,  from  self-activity,  but 
are  higher  stages  of  development  of  self-activity 
itself,  wherein  it  need  not  lose  its  original  nature, 


SELF-REALIZATION  2 1 3 

but  may  gain  new  value  by  its  own  higher  de- 
velopment. There  is  much  truth  in  the  theory 
that  the  higher  powers  of  man  are  really  not  new  in 
any  special  sense,  but  that  they  are  higher  stages  of 
development  for  capacities  which  in  the  infant  or 
child  are  known  by  other  names.  This  definition 
also  suggests  method  to  some  extent  by  the  use  of 
the  word  "  develop,"  thereby  indicating  that  the  end 
of  education  does  not  lie  in  mere  cultivation  of  the 
memory,  but  in  the  evoking  of  power,  —  the  making 
of  the  self  of  greater  real  worth  in  itself,  rather  than 
a  mere  receptacle  for  information. 

The  sixth  proposition,  "  The  true  aim  of  education 
is  the  transforming  of  the  self-active,  irresponsible, 
immature  human  being  into  a  responsible,  self- 
directive  person,"  varies  somewhat  in  emphasis  from 
the  others.  It  keeps  the  thought  closely  upon  the 
being  to  be  educated,  emphasizes  the  changes  made 
in  his  condition  and  characteristics  by  his  educative 
experiences,  and  calls  attention  imperiously  to  the 
element  of  self-direction  entering  into  the  disposi- 
tion. It  emphasizes  especially  the  absence,  in  youth, 
of  the  sense  of  responsibility  or  self-direction,  and 
tries  to  show  how  valuable  this  element  of  character 
is  when  achieved.  By  the  use  of  the  word  "  person  "  it 
attempts  to  call  up  the  picture  of  a  culture  that  has 
become  well  balanced  through  selected  disciplines 
or  experiences. 


214  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

The  seventh,  "The  true  aim  of  education  is  to 
develop  the  self-activity  of  the  individual  into  its 
higher  correlatives  of  self-consciousness  and  self- 
direction  by  processes  controlled  by  correct  ideas  of 
self-perfection,"  is  a  repetition  of  the  fifth  in  different 
language,  with  only  slightly  varying  emphasis. 

The  eighth  definition,  "  The  true  aim  of  education 
is  to  cause  the  self-active,  immature  individual  to 
enlarge  and  enrich  his  experience  till  he  becomes 
capable  of  directing  his  own  conduct  and  disposed  to 
make  the  most  of  his  opportunities,"  is  quite  differ- 
ent in  form  and  emphasis  from  any  of  the  others, 
and  merits  a  special  word  of  explanation. 

Notice  that  it  holds  to  self-activity  as  the  special 
attribute,  to  immaturity  before  experience,  to  the 
individual  as  the  true  subject  of  education,  as  do 
different  ones  preceding.  But  it  does  more  than 
this.  It  attempts  to  explain  processes  and  to  direct 
methods;  it  selects  and  adds  experiences  till  the 
self-activity  is  transformed  into  the  higher  capability 
of  self-direction;  and  it  especially  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  a  large  and  important  part  of  this  power 
of  self-direction  lies  in  the  disposition  to  put  forth 
effort.  Now  all  disposition  or  tendency  toward  self- 
action  in  specified  directions  develops  under  motive, 
and  the  strongest  part  of  motive  is  feeling.  The 
ideal  life  which  furnishes  motive  for  conduct  is 
dependent  not  alone  on  experiences  of  knowledge 


SELF-REALIZATION  2 1 5 

but  also,  and  more  definitely,  on  experiences  of  de- 
sire, hope,  possible  joy,  and  satisfaction  of  various 
kinds.  It  not  only  looks  to  self-criticism  as  to  the 
past,  but  to  self-seeking  of  new  experiences  which 
offer  hope  of  improved  condition  and  greater  worth. 
This  definition  suggests  a  method  of  education  that 
shall  furnish  the  human  soul  with  such  aspirations, 
hopes,  and  desires  as  shall  actually  lead  to  action 
in  the  direction  of  the  higher  life.  The  ideal  life, 
self-direcLtd  and  self-motived,  is  distinctly  human, 
distinguishing  man  from  all  other  animals.  The 
seeking  after  perfection  which  realizes  itself  in  living 
a  life  of  selected  experiences,  with  a  view  to  infinite 
progress  toward  an  always  receding  and  always 
self-perfecting  ideal,  is  impossible  except  for  the 
individual  human  being.  The  capacity  so  to  live 
distinguishes  man  as  a  candidate  for  individual 
immortality,  to  be  spent  in  bringing  about  self- 
perfection. 

Thus  the  education  of  a  human  being  is  precedent 
to  the  education  of  a  pure  spirit,  continued  after  death 
under  conditions  very  different  from  those  of  human 
education.  And  yet  the  two  segments  of  experience 
are  so  related  and  correlated  that  some  of  the  omis- 
sions of  significant  and  necessary  experiences  to 
human  perfection  may  doubtless  be  partially  rem- 
edied by  processes  of  spiritual  experience  in  the 
future  life. 


216  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

We  have  already  seen  that  only  the  individual 
can  be  educated,  that  is,  started  and  helped  on  the 
road  toward  perfection.  We  have  also  seen  that 
the  individual  is  educated  by  and  through  his  expe- 
riences. These  experiences  are  possible  to  him  only 
through  self-exercise,  or  self-activity,  which  is  the 
primal  characteristic  of  his  nature.  These  self-activi- 
ties will  be  concerned  with  the  details  of  the  objects 
of  experience  in  the  twelve  great  departments  of  pos- 
sible human  experiences  referred  to  on  a  previous 
page  as  "  the  twelve  great  disciplines  of  life."  We  are 
now  to  give  special  attention  to  a  particular  phase 
of  culture  heretofore  but  dimly  suggested,  but  which 
is  often  one  of  the  most  important  of  less  well-under- 
stood results  of  right  processes  of  education.  I  refer 
to  the  changed  state  of  the  individual  self  as  a  result 
of  experience,  in  so  far  as  such  new  state  takes  on 
something  of  permanence.  Henceforth  the  self  has 
new  value  or  worth  simply  because  it  now  exists  in 
this  new  state.  To  illustrate:  A  definitely  guided 
process  of  self-activity  in  thinking  upon  a  definitely 
selected  object  of  thought  or  theme  may  lead  the 
self-activity  from  a  state  of  comparative  ignorance 
in  reference  to  such  object  into  a  state  of  intelligence 
in  regard  to  the  same.  Now  the  passage  from  a 
state  of  ignorance  to  a  state  of  intelligence  is  not  in 
any  sense  a  change  of  human  nature,  —  only  an 
actualization  of  what  was  always  potentially  in 


SELF-REALIZATION  2 1 7 

human  nature.  The  individual  self  has  acquired 
new  worth,  but  has  not  changed  its  nature.  It  has 
had  a  new  experience,  and  through  that  experience 
has  come  into  possession  of  its  own,  —  what  was 
always  its  right,  always  its  possibility,  —  intelligence. 
It  seems  almost  like  a  new  self,  but  it  is  in  reality 
the  same  self  in  a  more  advanced  stage  of  develop- 
ment. It  has  gone  one  step  farther  toward  its  own 
perfection,  that  is,  its  own  actualization,  —  the  reali- 
zation of  its  own  possibility  of  almost  infinite  intel- 
ligence. It  has  moved  a  full  stage  forward  in 
self-realization.  As  the  state  of  intelligence,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  previous  state  of  ignorance,  com- 
mends itself  to  the  soul  which  experiences  it,  a  new 
aspiration  is  born  in  the  soul.  The  soul  has  thus  a 
new  self-revelation,  not  only  of  its  own  possibilities, 
but  that  these  new  conditions  are  good.  Thus  it 
is  getting  clearer  and  clearer  conceptions  of  what 
constitutes  soul  perfection  on  one  side  of  its  na- 
ture, and  clearer  and  clearer  notions  of  what  it 
must  do  to  realize  its  possibilities  in  this  direction. 
In  the  chapter  on  Self-revelation  something  was 
said  of  the  process  by  which  the  soul's  capacities 
are  little  by  little  made  known  to  the  individual 
through  his  own  experiences ;  and  especially  of  how 
the  whole  material  world  is  the  means  of  making 
the  child  conscious  of  his  capacities  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  beauty.  We  see,  in  the  larger  view  now 


218  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

possible  after  our  extended  analysis,  that  this  devel- 
opment of  self-appreciation  is  essential  to  the  later 
development  of  the  judgment  as  to  what  is  best  as 
a  matter  of  human  advancement  toward  perfection. 
Even  the  satisfaction  of  intelligence  is  a  part  of 
that  happiness  which  always  accompanies  progress, 
though  it  is  not  its  acme.  We  see  also  that  all 
the  universe  except  the  individual  self  (that  is,  all 
the  not-self)  is  means  to  the  self-revelation  and  to 
this  self-urgency  toward  higher  and  higher  forms 
of  life. 

All  this  is  seen  much  more  readily  when  the 
experience  is  not  wholly  intellectual  and  the  result- 
ing state  not  purely  a  matter  of  intelligence.  It  may 
be  a  matter  of  moral  quality,  —  a  state  of  the  soul 
which  involves  questions  of  right  or  wrong.  Soul 
conditions  of  love,  hope,  joy,  courage,  altruism,  self- 
realization,  responsibility,  self-sacrifice,  are  of  higher 
worth  than  mere  intelligence.  Though  in  most  cases 
these  conditions  are  dependent  on  some  degree  of  the 
latter  for  their  right  development,  the  experiences 
which  bring  them  about  are  never  wholly  intellec- 
tual. That  happy  mingling  of  the  intellectual,  the 
emotional,  and  the  volitional,  which  characterizes  a 
good  day's  school  education,  finally  brings  the  soul, 
at  first  temporarily  but  frequently,  and  at  last  per- 
manently, into  these  states ;  and  the  soul  which  has 
acquired  these  has  thereby  increased  its  worth. 


SELF-REALIZATION  219 

Where,  through  further  right  living  in  school  or 
out  of  school,  but  preferably  in  a  good  school,  college, 
or  university,  the  individual  has  reconstructed  these 
states  of  intellectual,  emotional,  and  volitional  experi- 
ence into  ideals,  —  standards  of  life  and  conduct, — 
he  has  moved  a  long  way  onward  in  self-realization. 
The  reflex  states  of  self-satisfaction  which  these  very 
conditions  themselves  induce,  go  a  long  way  toward 
commending  them  as  standards  of  perfection  for  a 
human  being.  Therefore,  while  the  person  so  grow- 
ing or  developing  may  not  be  able  to  say  precisely 
what  changes  have  come  to  him  in  the  way  of  "  views 
of  life  "  or  "  notions  of  human  perfection,"  yet  hence- 
forward he  practically  believes  more  and  more  fully 
in  human  capacity  for  noble  things,  and  he  has 
clearer  and  clearer  practical  views  of  human  perfec- 
tion. He  has,  moreover,  created  for  himself  stronger 
and  stronger  motives  urging  him  to  live  the  higher 
life.  Little  by  little  right  living  and  right  experi- 
ences are  teaching  him  what  human  perfection  is, 
and  are  urging  to  self-realization. 

The  soul's  power  to  recognize  true  self-advance- 
ment and  to  distinguish  this  state  from  new  gratifi- 
cation of  appetites  or  satisfaction  of  present  felt  needs, 
is  one  of  the  noblest  distinctions  of  man.  Self-criti- 
cism by  self-created  standards,  which  carry  with  them 
their  own  justification,  is  the  prerogative  of  man  alone. 
Conceptions  of  a  life  higher  and  nobler  than  the  one 


220  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

now  being  lived,  and  aspirations  and  longing  for  such 
life,  the  subordination  of  present  gratification  for  the 
sake  of  greater  progress,  —  these  happily  combined 
show  man  in  the  process  of  transforming  his  self- 
activity,  self-revelation,  and  self-direction  into  reali- 
zation,—  self-realization.  That  the  standards  which 
thus  commend  themselves  and  command  respect 
and  obedience  are  imperfect  does  not  matter;  they 
are  better  and  higher  than  the  present  stage  of  liv- 
ing, and  point  the  direction  in  which  self-progress 
lies.  Obedience  to  these  standards  enlarges  and  en- 
riches experience,  making  it  possible  thereafter  to 
supersede  them  with  worthier  creations,  which  in 
their  turn  shall  command  like  confidence  and  obedi- 
ence. Thus  does  the  action  and  reaction  of  experi- 
ence lead  toward  perfection  itself. 

It  is  to  be  noted  here  that  while  the  native  power 
to  create  these  standards  and  to  guide  one's  conduct 
by  them  is  inherent  in  each  individual  human  soul, 
the  occasion  for  their  incitement  is  always  found 
in  the  environment.  This  is  especially  true  in  early 
life,  —  in  childhood.  The  soul,  self-active  though 
it  be,  cannot  create  standards  of  life  and  conduct 
out  of  nothing.  In  its  environment  (using  this 
word  in  an  inclusive  sense)  the  soul  finds  the  occa- 
sion of  its  experiences,  and  out  of  its  experiences 
come  the  suggestions  and  materials  for  ideal-making. 
How  important  then  that  children  should  live  in 


SELF-REALIZATION  221 

ennobling  environment !  How  especially  important 
that  the  school,  which  furnishes  so  large  a  part  of  the 
child's  environment,  should  be  worthy  of  its  mission ! 
The  child's  tendency  to  imitate  his  teachers  and 
schoolmates  is  imbedded  in  the  ideal-making  bent 
of  his  mind.  The  child  finds  the  other  life  —  the 
life  he  is  not  living  —  exemplified  by  teachers  and 
mates.  Whether  the  life  be  better  or  worse  than  his 
own,  in  many  cases  the  circumstances  lead  him  to 
look  upon  it  with  favor;  and  further,  presently, 
though  sometimes  but  temporarily,  such  standards 
commend  themselves;  and  the  law  of  tendency,  so 
strong  in  human  nature,  —  to  become  like  what  one 
admires  and  longs  to  be,  —  soon  starts  the  move- 
ment of  imitation.  How  necessary,  then,  especially 
in  early  life,  that  the  child  be  surrounded  with  persons 
whose  characters  and  conduct  are  really  worthy  of 
imitation !  I  have  said  "  in  early  life,"  for,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  matters  much  less  after  character  and  habits 
are  fixed.  When  experience  has  been  large  and  rich, 
the  person  has  material  in  his  life  out  of  which  to 
build  up  his  ideals  independently  of  present  environ- 
ment. Indeed,  the  crowning  power  of  human  nature 
is  that  of  being  able  to  live  the  ideal  life  of  purity 
and  aspiration  in  the  midst  of  squalor,  vice,  and 
crime.  This  power  of  self-defense  against  the  low 
and  vile,  this  power  to  rise  superior  to  environment 
and  live  the  ideal  life,  marks  the  being  created  in  the 


222  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

image  of  God.  He  who  has  actually  attained  this 
power,  whose  ideals  are  of  such  lofty  worth  as  to 
inspire  confidence  and  command  obedience,  has 
achieved  self-development  or  self-realization  in  a 
large  measure.  Further  advance  is  simply  depend- 
ent on  the  enlargement  of  experience  and  the  im- 
provement of  standards. 

It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  importance  of 
right  education  and  care  of  children  in  their  early 
years.  If  first  experiences  excite  noble  aspirations, 
if  they  furnish  the  elements  of  ideal  beauty,  ideal 
goodness,  and  ideal  truth,  then  the  early  ideals  will 
contain  these  elements ;  and  if  some  considerable 
advance  in  ideal-making  of  the  right  sort  be  made 
in  early  years,  there  is  little  danger  that  other  or 
lower  standards  will  prove  attractive.  One  who  has 
really  seen  heaven  will  hardly  be  satisfied  with  a 
lesser  paradise. 

It  is,  of  course,  equally  necessary  to  guard  against 
the  lowering  influence  of  vicious  examples.  The 
power  to  rise  to  worthier  and  worthier  grades  of  liv- 
ing through  one's  own  choice  implies  the  possi- 
bility that  one  may  choose  the  lower  way.  Perfect 
freedom  to  rise  requires  as  perfect  freedom  to  de- 
scend. Nothing  can  relieve  one  from  the  responsi- 
bility of  choosing  one's  own  course  in  life,  but  many 
influences  may  enter  in  to  cloud  the  vision  and  dis- 
tract the  judgment.  It  is  the  province  of  education 


SELF-REALIZATION  223 

to  offer,  judiciously,  opportunities  for  right  experi- 
ences and  to  apply  proper  stimulation  to  the  growth 
of  right  ideals. 

The  reasons  offered  in  these  preceding  pages  lead 
me  therefore  to  repeat  that  the  universal  or  fixed  or 
ultimate  aim  of  education  is  human  perfection.  It  is 
clear  that  this  can  mean  only  the  perfection  of  the 
individual, — every  individual,  all  individuals,  since 
good,  a  degree  of  perfection,  can  be  realized,  that  is 
made  real  as  a  good,  only  in  individuals  capable  of 
experiencing  this  good  or  perfection.  All  talk  about 
the  good  or  perfection  of  the  race,  or  of  society,  or  of 
any  other  organization  of  individuals  can  have  mean- 
ing only  when  considered  as  the  perfection  of  an 
instrument,  —  very  valuable,  it  may  be,  but  still  an 
instrument.  There  still  remains  the  question  "  Good 
for  what  ?  "  showing  that  the  real  end  or  aim  lies  in 
something  else ;  while  individual  persons  capable  of 
experiencing  good,  are  an  end  in  themselves.  Their 
own  perfection  justifies  itself  as  a  worthy  aim.  I  do 
not  mean  a  selfish  perfection  of  one's  self,  but  the 
entirely  altruistic  perfection  of  all.  The  teacher's 
teaching  works  for  the  good  of  others,  but  always 
for  individuals  capable  of  experiencing  the  new  good 
wrought  in  them  by  their  own  reactions  on  the  oppor- 
tunities offered  by  the  teacher  beyond  such  as  would 
have  come  to  them  without  the  school  or  teacher. 
The  teacher,  by  educating  all  the  people  in  a 


224  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

community,  doubtless  creates  a  better  community 
because  better  persons  will  make  a  better  public 
opinion ;  but  better  public  opinion  is  worth  nothing 
until  it  be  used  as  an  instrument  to  bring  some 
good  to  some  one. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  persons  are  instruments, 
too.  So  they  are,  —  potent  instruments  for  good  or 
evil  to  other  persons;  but  they  are  not  merely  in- 
struments. They  are  capable  besides  of  realizing 
good  in  themselves  and  for  themselves,  —  capable 
of  experiences  which  are  ends  in  themselves  for  all 
worthy  efforts  in  education.  Thus  we  see  how  purely 
personal  the  process  of  education  is ;  how  it  is  always 
engaged  with  some  individual  or  individuals,  endeav- 
oring to  induce  him  or  them  to  transform  himself  or 
themselves  into  something  better,  —  something  wiser 
or  saner,  more  efficient,  sympathetic,  virtuous,  active, 
or  refined,  —  something  that  shall  sum  up  more  of 
good  than  before.  And  this  good  is  to  be  appreciated 
or  experienced  by  these  same  individuals  in  and  for 
themselves  as  well  as  for  others.  We  should  not  deal 
with  abstractions  in  education. 

However,  it  is  just  here  again  that  we  see  how 
complex  a  thing  the  educative  process  is.  So  many 
things  may  become  a  good,  —  perfection  is  analyzable 
into  such  a  multitude  of  elements,  —  each  offering 
itself  as  an  immediate  aim,  that  one  is  liable  to  be 
confused  over  the  infinite  variety  of  possibilities  in 


SELF-REALIZATION  225 

the  case.  There  is  such  likelihood  of  differences  of 
judgment  as  to  which  of  these  elements  are  most 
important,  or  most  important  now,  or  most  important 
under  a  given  set  of  circumstances,  that  correct  con- 
clusion seems  almost  impossible.  This  difficulty,  how- 
ever, merely  shows  the  complexity  of  the  theme  and 
the  careful  study  of  the  subject  demanded  for  the 
highest  success  in  teaching.  The  history  of  races 
and  nations  shows  how  slowly  man  has  reached  his 
present  conception  of  what  is  good  or  best,  and  how 
often  he  has  mistaken  a  lower  good  for  a  higher 
one,  or  even  mistaken  an  evil  for  a  good.  But  slowly, 
through  the  ages,  he  has  made  many  distinctions, 
discarded  many  evils,  distinguished  the  varying  de- 
grees of  good,  and  has  often  directed  his  attention 
to  higher  things  as  against  the  false  attractions  of 
evils  or  lesser  goods.  And  the  young  must  repeat 
some  of  this  history  in  personal  development,  fortu- 
nately in  our  time  greatly  aided  by  wise  teachers. 

These  considerations  also  show  why  even  in  our 
time  there  is  still  such  difference  of  view  as  to  what 
the  present  processes  of  education  should  be.  Each 
theorist  is  intent  on  the  statement  and  enforcement 
of  what  he,  from  his  particular  point  of  view,  sees  to 
be  the  most  important.  So  it  happens,  then,  that 
from  persons  of  partial  views  we  have  statements  of 
special  aims,  perhaps  true  in  themselves,  but  un- 
true as  to  the  relative  importance  assigned  them  in 


226  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  educative  process.  Teachers  who  are  specialists 
are  particularly  subject  to  this  misconception  of  the 
true  aims  of  education.  The  particular  good  which 
the  mastery  of  their  subject  confers,  they  place  at  the 
center,  as  Ptolemy  insisted  that  the  earth  was  at  the 
center  of  the  solar  system.  The  chief  facts  which 
Ptolemy  taught  about  the  earth  are  still  believed, 
but  the  relative  position  and  importance  of  the  earth 
among  the  other  bodies  of  the  solar  system  are  now 
known  to  be  different  from  the  teachings  of  his  day. 
The  facts  taught  by  the  specialist  may  be  true  and 
important,  but  the  stress  which  his  insistence  places 
on  these  facts  may  teach  an  untruth  as  to  relative 
importance.  That  particular  good  may  not  be  the 
good  most  needed  by  some  particular  pupil  at  some 
particular  time,  and  under  the  particular  set  of  cir- 
cumstances involved.  Teachers  must  avoid  these 
errors  in  practice  by  saner  views  and  more  compre- 
hensive understanding  of  aims. 

The  same  complexity  of  aim  and  the  liability  to 
error  in  one's  point  of  view  reflect  themselves  in 
every  curriculum.  The  subjects  selected,  the  relative 
time  given  to  each,  the  subheads  chosen  for  mastery 
in  each  branch, —  all  these  are  the  result  of  one's  com- 
prehension or  lack  of  comprehension  of  the  true  aim. 
Many  persons  have  such  slight  knowledge  of  ulti- 
mate aims  that  they  are  blinded  by  special  or  imme- 
diate aims.  Many  have  so  little  appreciation  of  the 


SELF-REALIZATION  227 

possibilities  of  human  life  that  they  lose  sight  of  all 
general  or  ultimate  aims  and  descend  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  some  immediate  aim,  which,  when  realized, 
may  work  evil  to  the  very  ones  whose  good  was 
sought  in  its  mastery.  This  tendency  is  manifest  in 
the  founding  of  trade  schools  in  places  where  some 
one  industry  dominates  a  community.  The  aim  in  such 
a  school  is  not  only  immediate  but  partial  also,  for 
it  appeals  to  only  a  fraction  of  the  nature  of  the  child. 
In  many  cases  these  trade  schools  prepare  the  young 
person  to  earn  but  a  pittance  in  an  industry  that  is 
not  permanent ;  and  whatever  education  he  receives 
binds  him  the  more  closely  to  the  occupation  he 
learns,  thus  shutting  off  the  possibility  that  he  will 
ever  take  up  any  more  remunerative  work.  He  has 
been  educated  into  a  rut,  which  grows  deeper  and 
deeper  as  his  life  moves  backward  and  forward  in 
the  groove  formed  for  him.  At  first  it  seems  a  kind- 
ness to  him  to  fit  him  for  earning  money,  but  the 
"  good "  vanishes  when  it  is  seen  that  the  money 
earned  in  this  way  will  enable  him  to  live  only  in 
this  condition ;  while  every  additional  day  spent  in 
the  routine  duties  he  has  learned,  makes  him  less 
and  less  capable  of  advancing  to  any  superior  kind  of 
labor.  Employers  everywhere  are  urging  such  edu- 
cation for  employees,  not,  however,  really  for  the  good 
of  the  employees.  Misguided  parents  are  urging 
such  education  for  their  children,  so  that  they  may 


228  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

earn  a  little  money  at  once,  ignorant  or  careless  of 
the  slavery  to  which  this  educative  process  at  last 
leads. 

The  trade  school  is  bound  to  come  in  this  coun- 
try. It  remains  for  level-headed  educators  to  insist 
that  whenever  industrial  education  is  undertaken 
by  the  state,  enough  general  intelligence  shall  be 
mingled  with  the  manual  dexterity  secured  to  make 
the  young  person  greater  than  his  job.  His  earning 
power  must  be  made  sufficient  to  assure  him  finan- 
cial independence,  at  least  to  a  degree  that  will  give 
him  true  self-respect;  and  his  intelligence  must  be 
made  sufficient  to  permit  his  changing  his  occupa- 
tion when  opportunities  for  advancement  offer  them- 
selves. The  curse  of  the  ignorant  laborer,  or  of  the 
workman  specially  trained  on  a  low  level,  is  his 
inability  to  change  his  job. 

Between  this  extreme  view  of  the  trade  school,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  old-time  idea  of  a  classical  edu- 
cation gained  chiefly  through  the  dead  languages, 
on  the  other,  lie  all  grades  and  kinds  of  educational 
ideals.  Educational  reformers  are  disposed  to  give 
undue  emphasis  to  special  subjects  and  methods. 
All  who  think  and  write  on  this  great  theme  are 
more  or  less  bound  by  their  own  experiences  or 
modes  of  thinking,  by  their  reading,  or  by  the  com- 
munity interests  in  the  midst  of  which  they  live. 
Few  writers  have  the  catholicity  of  culture  which 


SELF-REALIZATION  229 

frees  them  from  some  bias  of  personal  view.  It  is 
true  that  frequently  a  real  contribution  to  the  facts 
out  of  which  a  science  of  education  may  eventually 
be  made,  is  obtained  from  a  specialist  who  is  exploit- 
ing his  own  branch ;  but  the  average  teacher  must 
correlate  this  with  other  branches  of  the  curriculum 
before  he  can  reach  a  wise  judgment  as  to  its  rela- 
tive place  and  importance  as  an  instrument  of  pub- 
lic education.  In  a  country  like  ours  there  is  always 
the  question  of  arrested  development  to  be  dealt 
with.  There  are  always  questions  of  moral  worth  to 
be  considered, — not  alone  worth  to  society,  but  a  per- 
son's own  moral  worth  to  himself  as  well.  In  a  coun- 
try in  which  political  individuality  and  personality 
are  guaranteed  and  preserved,  there  is  always  to  be 
considered  the  bearing  of  public  education  upon  the 
personality  of  the  pupil  to  make  him  a  worthy  being 
for  his  own  uses  as  well  as  for  those  of  society. 

Free  public  education  is  doing  much  in  this  coun- 
try to  keep  society  flexible,  to  make  the  lines  of  de- 
marcation between  classes  movable,  and  to  render 
it  easy  for  the  person  with  power  of  initiative  to  rise 
from  one  grade  of  living  to  a  higher  one.  Any  sys- 
tem of  education  which  tends  to  shut  in  the  view  or 
to  circumscribe  the  interests  of  a  child,  does  the  indi- 
vidual an  injury  which  no  general  good  to  the  com- 
munity can  excuse.  Any  branch  of  study,  therefore, 
whose  aim  is  specific,  needs  to  be  used  carefully  in 


230  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

conjunction  with  others  whose  aim,  if  specific,  is  dif- 
ferent in  its  final  effect  on  the  growing  character  of 
the  pupil.  How  far,  therefore,  to  push  the  pursuit  of 
a  special  branch  is  always  a  matter  of  grave  concern. 
Sufficient  proficiency  to  guarantee  self-respect  in  ref- 
erence to  attainment  is  always  a  necessity  for  right 
effect  on  character,  but  a  real  danger  lies  in  complete 
absorption  in  single  studies.  Fortunately  the  youth- 
ful student  usually  protects  himself  from  the  well- 
meant  overstress  of  teachers  by  a  natural  rebound 
of  interest  and  diversity  of  occupation.  But  when 
his  teacher,  his  community,  and  his  family  combine 
on  some  single  line,  leading  immediately  into  an  occu- 
pation, the  student's  native  abilities  are  ignored,  his 
possibilities  are  limited,  and  his  usefulness  to  others 
and  himself  is  sadly  lessened.  Sometimes,  for  the 
very  reason  that  one's  proposed  occupation  tends  to 
routine  within  narrow  limits,  it  is  desirable  to  liberal- 
ize somewhat  the  preparation,  so  that  not  even  the 
limiting  effect  of  untoward  employment  may  en- 
tirely destroy  the  joy  of  living.  A  workingman  is 
always  to  be  distinguished  from  a  man  working.  The 
man  should  be  made  able  to  swing  his  job  and  have 
some  mentality  left.  The  danger  of  meager  education 
is  that  the  job  may  be  able  to  dominate  the  man. 

The  question  here  belongs,  in  a  way,  to  statesmen 
and  publicists,  because  the  results  affect  the  possi- 
bilities of  political  and  social  life.  But  governments 


SELF-REALIZATION  231 

exist,  in  the  final  analysis,  for  the  people,  —  all  the 
people,  —  and  society  has  no  rational  reason  for  exist- 
ence unless  its  beneficent  influences  shall,  by  reflex 
action,  confer  good  on  individuals  capable  of  the  joy 
of  living.  The  question  is  at  last,  then,  one  which 
takes  into  account  the  individual  in  all  his  capacities 
for  life,  —  all  individuals,  not  alone  as  constituents  of 
society,  but  as  living,  suffering,  enjoying  entities.  It 
is  peculiarly  the  question  for  the  educator,  and,  in 
some  of  its  aspects,  for  the  educational  philosopher ; 
but  it  is  an  inevitable  question  for  the  individual 
room  teacher,  in  daily  contact  with  individual  chil- 
dren, each  with  his  possible  course  before  him  and 
the  possibility  of  moral  worth  and  personal  enjoy- 
ment within  him.  If  all  teachers  may  not  spend  the 
necessary  time  to  master  in  philosophical  terms  all 
the  subtleties  of  the  problem,  they  may,  at  least,  be 
so  indoctrinated  with  such  sane  views  of  life,  conduct, 
and  aims,  that  each  teacher's  subconscious  character 
will  prevent  great  errors  in  daily  practice.  Just  so 
far  as  teachers  are  enlightened,  liberalized,  and  made 
reasonable  will  the  daily  practices  of  the  schoolroom 
everywhere  gradually  take  on  the  characteristics  of 
sanity  and  reason. 

It  is  easy  to  be  an  enthusiast  for  some  single  inter- 
est, if  meanwhile  the  mind  be  withdrawn  from  other 
themes.  Enthusiasm  is  an  essential  element,  too,  of 
personal  progress.  But  sanity  of  judgment  is  of 


232  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

larger  import,  if  of  slower  growth ;  and  sanity  of  judg- 
ment seldom  results  from  one-sided  or  restricted 
development.  The  aim  of  education,  therefore, 
should  include  a  sufficient  number  of  elements  to 
prevent  arrested  development  or  biased  judgments 
of  life  and  opportunity. 

Many  interesting  side  questions  grow  out  of  the 
exaggerations  of  specialists  and  enthusiasts  in  certain 
departments  of  education.  There  is  time  here  for 
reference  to  but  one.  The  case  in  point  is  the  claim 
of  teachers  of  manual  training  that  they  must  have 
small  classes,  as  they  cannot  give  the  necessary  atten- 
tion to  detailed  criticism  of  the  work  of  individual 
pupils  in  a  large  class.  My  comparison  here  is  not 
with  instruction  in  certain  subjects,  as,  for  instance, 
in  music,  or  in  lecture  recitations,  when  larger  num- 
bers offer  a  new  force,  supplementing  instruction  or 
making  it  more  effective;  but  with  corresponding 
subjects  like  arithmetic,  reading,  or  grammar,  —  sub- 
jects in  which  there  is  also  involved  in  the  aim  a 
certain  skill  in  execution,  according  to  standards  of 
correctness.  When  carefully  examined,  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  is  no  more  possible  to  reach  accuracy  in  math- 
ematics, or  skill  in  the  use  of  oral  English,  in  large 
classes,  than  it  is  to  secure  accuracy  and  finish  in 
wood  turning  or  joint  making  in  manual  training. 
The  difference  lies  chiefly  in  the  ease  with  which 
tests  are  applied,  in  the  persistent  presence  of  the 


SELF-REALIZATION  233 

mistake  in  the  misshapen  product  of  the  lathe  or  in 
the  ill-fitting  joint,  and  in  the  further  fact  that  the  fac- 
tory and  the  manufacturer  constantly  enforce  a  dis- 
agreeable comparison.  If,  for  instance,  the  mistakes  in 
oral  English  of  our  students  were  as  impressive  to  the 
ear  as  these  other  mistakes  are  to  the  eye ;  if  they  were 
sounding  in  our  memory  for  days  afterward ;  if  the 
elegant  use  of  English  were  constantly  heard  in  un- 
mistakable comparison ;  and  if  we  were  fined  so  many 
dollars  for  each  infraction  of  good  usage  made  by  our 
pupils,  then  would  this  forceful  distinction  vanish,  and 
either  manual-training  teachers  would  have  to  lower 
their  standards  of  finish,  or  teachers  of  mathematics 
and  English  would  be  required  to  raise  theirs,  result- 
ing in  a  rearrangement  of  classes  as  to  size.  The  teach- 
ers of  manual  training  have  been  able  for  the  most 
part  to  maintain  their  claims  because  of  the  objec- 
tivity of  their  standards  and  because  the  people  who 
have  supplied  the  money  for  manual-training  plants 
have  believed  that  all  manual  training  which  results 
in  work  below  factory  standards  of  finish  is  wasted, 
because  not  immediately  available  in  the  factory.  If 
similar  standards  should  be  forced  on  us  in  other 
subjects  with  like  cogency,  we  should  be  obliged  to 
rectify  our  errors  of  classification. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  attempting  to  cause 
the  pupil  to  go  through  the  educative  process  which 
tends  to  make  him  realize  his  possibilities,  —  that  is, 


234  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

to  carry  out  in  himself  the  process  of  self-realization, 
—  the  teacher  has  to  take  into  account  the  very  com- 
plex nature  of  the  child  as  a  person,  and  to  think  over 
the  wide  range  of  possible  good  which  may  come  to 
such  an  individual  in  this  development.  It  is  because 
the  child  is  in  his  own  nature  complex  —  that  is,  be- 
cause he  has  large  and  varied  possibilities  —  that  the 
aim  of  education  itself  is  complex,  even  though  al- 
ways personal.  The  point  of  view  also  discloses  the 
fact  that  the  process  of  self-realization  in  the  pupil 
is  intimately  related  to  what  is  known  as  educative 
values  of  the  different  branches  of  subject  matter. 
In  fact,  there  are  three  ideas  which  must  always  be 
coordinated  in  thought  by  the  educational  philos- 
opher :  namely,  the  nature  of  the  child ;  self-realiza- 
tion as  made  possible  by  this  nature  of  the  child; 
and  the  different  branches  of  study  as  instrumental- 
ities,—  instrumentalities  in  the  sense  that  they  are 
temptingly  placed  before  the  pupil  in  order  to  evoke 
his  self-activity  in  their  mastery. 

It  is  with  these  three  ideas  and  their  multiform 
relations  that  educational  reformers  have  always  been 
engaged.  Whenever  an  educator  has  taken  up  any 
one  of  these  topics  for  discussion,  he  has  been 
quickly  led  to  see  the  need  of  relating  it  to  the  other 
two.  For  instance,  when  Herbert  Spencer  stated  the 
aim  of  education  to  be  "preparation  for  complete 
living,"  he  followed  this  by  a  discussion  of  what 


SELF-REALIZATION  235 

knowledge  is  of  most  worth.  He  saw  that  in  order 
to  have  human  beings  realize  themselves  so  that 
they  could  live  completely,  it  was  essential  that  they 
should  have  the  proper  educative  experiences.  It 
was  not  long  before  he  found  that  he  must  examine 
somewhat  carefully  the  various  branches  of  study  in 
the  curriculum  of  the  school.  In  this  process  of 
evaluation  of  subject  matter  he  was  led  to  place  an 
inordinate  value  upon  the  practical  sciences.  This 
was  purely  and  simply  because  of  the  limited  mean- 
ing which  he  put  into  the  expression  "  complete 
living."  Indeed,  before  he  had  completed  his  exam- 
ination of  the  various  branches,  he  saw  the  necessity 
for  a  higher  conception  of  life  than  his  own  prin- 
ciples of  evolution  had  thus  far  implied.  In  many  of 
his  later  writings  there  is  an  evident  tendency  to  en- 
large the  meaning  of  his  conception  of  life,  although 
to  the  last,  in  my  opinion,  he  perseveres  in  attribu- 
ting to  human  beings  but  a  small  fraction  of  their 
possibilities  in  the  joy  of  living. 

Other  great  writers  have  treated  the  same  sub- 
jects. Herbart  gives  a  different  evaluation  of  studies 
from  that  assigned  to  them  by  Spencer,  while  many 
modern  writers  have  differed  more  or  less  from  both 
of  them.  And  yet,  after  all,  it  is  the  same  old  ques- 
tion,—  the  nature  of  the  human  being  to  be  educated, 
the  aim  of  education  (which  is  his  complete  self- 
realization),  and  what  are  the  best  instrumentalities. 


236  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

Without  attempting  to  go  over  all  the  ground  em- 
bodied in  such  studies  as  those  of  Spencer,  Herbart, 
Froebel,  and  many  equally  able  modern  students,  it 
seems  appropriate  to  examine  a  few  of  the  branches 
in  the  light  of  the  specific  aim  of  education  here  de- 
veloped, namely,  the  realization  in  each  individual 
of  the  possibilities  which  his  nature  confers  on  him. 
It  is  of  course  well  understood  and  thoroughly  im- 
plied in  this  discussion  that  no  person  reaches  such 
end  as  this  during  school  life,  nor  perhaps  during 
the  period  of  his  natural  life.  It  is  implied,  however, 
that  he  moves  toward  this  end  in  every  really  valu- 
able step  in  education ;  that,  as  the  generations  pass, 
saner  and  more  reasonable  views  are  embalmed  in 
history  and  literature  and  made  available  for  indi- 
viduals in  the  next  generation ;  and  that  with  better 
views  and  aims  of  education,  with  better-trained 
teachers,  with  better-organized  schools,  and  with 
better  communities  in  which  to  live,  the  individuals 
of  succeeding  generations  may  advance  in  a  marked 
way  toward  more  complete  self-realization,  which,  by 
the  way,  is  only  a  higher  method  of  statement  of 
Herbert  Spencer's  view  of  complete  living.  Such  aim 
is  always  a  movable  ideal,  receding  toward  the  infinite 
as  the  realization  progresses.  The  value  of  the  proc- 
ess of  realization  already  worked  out  is  not  lessened, 
however,  by  this  recession  of  the  ideal,  which  is  due 
to  the  changing  focus  of  the  mind  as  it  adapts  itself 


SELF-REALIZATION  237 

to   some   higher  element  of    the  aim    which  was 
implied,  but  not  until  now  so  clearly  seen. 

Herbert  Spencer's  discussion  of  educational  values 
was  written  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  authorship,  be- 
fore either  he  or  Darwin  had  seen  the  full  effect  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  especially  as  it  modifies  modes 
of  thought  in  other  than  biological  provinces.  It  is 
not  surprising  to  find  him  giving  undue  prominence 
to  matters  dealing  with  the  external  world.  Evolu- 
tion was  first  seen  in  its  material  aspects,  and  the 
possibilities  resulting  in  its  recognition  in  other 
fields  of  thought  were  not  then  even  surmised,  either 
by  the  general  public  or  by  the  authors  of  the 
theory.  In  some  respects  Spencer  was  far  in  ad- 
vance of  Darwin,  especially  in  seeing  that  all  this 
new  way  of  thinking  must  eventually  affect  stand- 
ards of  living.  But  as  yet  Spencer  was  dominated 
by  his  studies  in  mathematics  and  science.  In  fact, 
after  he  had  assumed  the  role  of  philosopher  he  was 
still  a  prejudiced  witness  because  of  his  early  edu- 
cation. It  is  a  curious  phenomenon  to  see  the  man 
who  first  of  all  stated  and  defended  the  principle  of 
evolution,  failing  to  recognize  its  application  in  his 
own  life.  Even  in  his  later  years,  when  he  had 
caught  universality  of  view,  he  held  to  many  of  his 
early  prejudices,  thus  vitiating  many  of  his  conclu- 
sions. Rarely  did  he  attempt  to  correct  the  views 
expressed  in  his  early  writings,  although  some  of 


238  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

his  later  ones  contradicted  them.  This  is  partly  ex- 
plained, no  doubt,  by  the  fact  that  in  his  old  age  he 
was  harassed  by  the  fear  that  he  might  not  live  to 
finish  the  outline  of  his  system  of  philosophy,  and 
consequently  he  gave  little  attention  to  the  revision 
of  his  earlier  work.  Had  he  been  spared  longer  and 
been  endowed  with  physical  health,, he  might  have 
taken  a  real  interest  in  revising  his  earlier  writings 
to  make  them  accord  with  the  more  nearly  universal 
standards  of  his  later  life. 

Yet  it  happens  sometimes  that  an  extreme  state- 
ment of  a  case  secures  a  hearing  that  might  not  be 
accorded  to  a  more  moderate  claim ;  and  it  was  a 
great  benefit  to  the  cause  of  education  to  have  the 
relationship  of  the  progress  of  science  to  the  develop- 
ment of  civilization  set  forth  with  such  clearness 
and  power  as  were  shown  in  his  essay  on  education 
entitled  "What  Knowledge  is  of  Most  Worth." 
This  essay  was  a  little  later  expanded  into  what  ap- 
peared as  the  first  third  of  his  book  entitled  "  Edu- 
cation: Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Physical."  In  this 
expanded  form  it  has  been  widely  read,  and  I  believe 
has  been  more  influential  than  any  other  similar 
writing  in  instigating  and  directing  later  writers  on 
the  evolution  of  subject  matter.  In  many  cases  its 
greatest  value  has  been  in  bringing  out  the  expres- 
sion of  opposite  views,  which  his  statement  has 
suggested. 


SELF-REALIZATION  239 

The  special  strength  of  Spencer's  argument  for 
the  teaching  of  science  lies  in  his  showing  how 
marvelously  the  advances  made  in  such  studies  react 
in  the  industries,  especially  in  manufactures  and 
commerce.  He  shows  conclusively  how  the  individ- 
ual finally  reaps  advantages  from  the  increased  rich- 
ness of  his  life,  made  possible  by  the  advances  of 
civilization.  It  is  true  that  all  the  advances  made  by 
society  at  large  react  on  the  individual  to  his  advan- 
tage; yet  history  shows  that  in  many  cases  this 
reaction  is  quite  unequal  in  its  value  to  individuals, 
often  leaving  wide  areas  of  population  unhelped.  In 
some  industries  the  employees  have  been  personally 
injured  in  their  standards  of  life  by  the  very  success 
of  the  industry  made  possible  by  the  scientific  inves- 
tigations referred  to.  Therefore,  while  one  cannot 
deny  the  wonderful  general  amelioration  of  life  by 
modern  discoveries  in  science,  one  also  remembers 
that  these  advances  have  come  in  many  instances  to 
classes  rather  than  to  individuals,  or  to  the  whole 
population  as  individuals.  The  real  value  of  science 
as  shown  by  Spencer  was  rather  the  value  to  society 
from  having  a  few  people  well  instructed  in  science 
for  industrial  life.  What  we  are  most  concerned  in, 
so  far  as  this  discussion  goes,  is  quite  another  matter, 
and  one  to  which  Mr.  Spencer  gives  but  casual  at- 
tention; namely,  the  actual  influences  on  the  indi- 
vidual, both  in  himself  and  in  his  social  relations,  of 


240  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

his  personal  mastery  of  the  ideas  making  up  any 
branch  of  knowledge.  The  teacher  is  constantly  face 
to  face  with  such  problems  as  these :  What  changes 
for  the  better  can  I  make  in  John  Doe  by  the  teach- 
ing to  him  of  the  given  lesson,  that  is,  the  particular 
idea  or  ideas  of  to-day's  lesson  in  reading  or  arithmetic 
or  geography  or  physics;  and  further,  How  may  I 
improve  the  class  of  ideas  to  be  taught,  by  a  better 
selection  and  arrangement  of  this  particular  part  of 
the  curriculum  of  the  grade  under  my  care  ? 

Every  teacher  has  within  his  own  experience 
much  knowledge  of  how  he  has  come  to  be  what  he 
is,  —  of  what  ideas  changed  his  life  by  making  him 
more  intelligent  in  reference  to  important  matters, 
and  of  what  ideas  appealed  to  his  better  nature 
and  changed  his  standards  of  conduct.  If  he  be  re- 
flective by  nature,  he  may  gain  power  in  teaching 
others  by  considering  his  own  experience;  but  he 
will  be  greatly  helped  by  fuller  study  of  the  nature 
of  the  ideas  involved  in  the  different  subjects,  especi- 
ally in  regard  to  their  stimulative  value.  Moreover, 
the  very  best  methods  of  presenting  ideas  are  often 
disclosed  by  the  study  of  the  effect  one  is  to  secure 
through  their  mastery  by  a  pupil.  Hence  the  value  of 
such  studies  as  we  are  pursuing  for  any  teacher  who 
wishes  to  be  efficient  in  directing  the  self-realization 
of  real  children,  as  well  as  for  those  educators  who 
select  studies  and  arrange  courses  of  study. 


SELF-REALIZATION  241 

The  exact  change  which  comes  into  the  person- 
ality or  personal  life  of  a  pupil  through  the  mastery 
of  particular  ideas  has  been  little  considered  by 
teachers  and  scarcely  noted  by  writers.  Much  of 
the  inefficiency  of  teaching  comes  from  the  fact  that 
teaching  is  usually  considered  in  relation  to  large 
numbers,  and  with  reference  to  required  tests  of 
examination  or  some  immediate  standards ;  and  that 
little  attention  is  given  to  the  daily  growth  of  the 
individual  pupil,  in  his  mental  life,  as  he  masters 
successively  the  ideas  of  the  lessons  making  up  the 
course  of  study.  Even  specialists,  in  setting  forth 
the  claims  of  their  subjects,  speak  most  frequently 
in  reference  to  the  general  improvement  of  the  com- 
munity through  the  more  perfect  understanding  of 
the  ideas  involved.  More  definiteness  would  be 
given  to  such  discussion  if  the  considerations  were 
confined  to  a  narrower  limit  and  the  case  made  more 
personal  with  each  student.  This,  however,  would 
require  a  volume  or  more  for  each  branch  of  learn- 
ing, so  no  such  task  can  be  undertaken  here.  In- 
stead the  writer  can  give  only  an  illustration  or 
two,  hoping  thus  to  suggest  to  the  reader  how  he 
may  study  other  branches  at  his  leisure. 

A  preliminary  word  may  here  be  spoken  in  ref- 
erence to  the  work  of  the  primary  teacher.  Much 
of  this  work,  such  as  the  mechanical  part  of  number 
work  or  reading  or  language  work,  seems  at  first 


242  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

thought  to  be  purely  formal.  If,  for  instance,  the 
particular  problem  for  some  one  minute  of  a  given 
lesson  be  the  teaching  of  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the 
eye,  and  its  name  to  the  ear,  together  with  the  in- 
stantaneous association  of  these  two  things  so  as 
to  be  remembered  ever  after,  it  all  seems  for  the 
moment  a  mere  matter  of  drill.  But  such  is  far  from 
being  the  case.  The  modern  primary  teacher  has 
learned  not  to  teach  such  facts  in  entire  isolation, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  involve  such  work  in  the 
large  problem  of  getting  interesting  ideas  from  the 
printed  page.  Nevertheless,  we  must  admit  that 
after  all  motives  have  been  brought  in  from  all  ac- 
cessible sources,  the  absorbing  work  of  the  pupil, 
during  some  appreciable  portion  of  the  lesson  period, 
is  just  the  mastery  of  those  two  details  in  their 
proper  association.  Furthermore,  this  particular 
work  must  be  done  thoroughly,  for  reasons  more  or 
less  consciously  present  in  the  teacher's  conception 
of  his  duty.  Some  of  these  reasons  (aims)  look 
toward  the  use  of  this  particular  knowledge  as  an 
instrument  for  further  conquests  in  the  intellectual 
world;  and  such  reasons,  being  clearly  seen  by  the 
teacher,  will  naturally  be  suggested  to  the  pupils  at 
all  opportune  moments.  Teachers  are  prone  to  de- 
vise their  methods  and  judge  of  the  necessary  thor- 
oughness of  their  instruction  by  this  standard  of 
further  use,  as  if  this  were  all.  But  there  is  a  higher 


SELF-REALIZATION  243 

question  involved,  which  may  help  to  determine 
methods  and  standards  of  thoroughness;  namely, 
the  condition  of  the  child  before  and  after  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  powers  on  the  new  knowledge.  If  his 
sight  has  been  clear  and  definite;  if  his  sense  of 
completeness  of  the  whole,  however  small,  has  been 
satisfied ;  if  there  has  been  no  clouding  of  his  intel- 
lectual condition, —  no  intellectual  contradictions  left 
unsolved ;  if  belief  that  this  new  knowledge,  however 
small,  is  vitally  related  to  his  immediate  or  remote 
success  in  life,  and  especially  to  some  mastery  of  an 
immediate  good ;  if  his  readiness  to  give  himself  to 
intellectual  pursuits  has  been  increased,  however  in- 
finitesimally ;  if  his  idea  of  school  as  a  desirable  place 
in  which  to  live  and  to  prepare  for  life  has  been 
made  clearer ;  if  the  whole  notion  of  his  relationship 
to  his  teacher  and  to  his  classmates  has  been  made 
to  seem  more  significant,  —  if  any  or  all  of  these  re- 
sults have  come  to  him,  the  teaching  has  been  worth 
while.  The  ethical  relations  have  been  brought  to 
the  surface,  and  not  only  has  the  particular  knowl- 
edge involved  been  attained,  but  the  pupil  has  been 
advanced  on  his  course  of  self-realization. 

The  instance  taken  is  extreme,  —  one  that  is  com- 
pletely barren  at  first  sight  of  ethical  and  social 
elements ;  yet  it  is  seen  at  the  last  analysis  to  be 
penetrated  and  interpenetrated  with  ethical  mean- 
ing. The  pupil's  attitude  toward  all  study  has  been 


244  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

influenced ;  he  has  received  discipline,  so  called,  as 
well  as  knowledge ;  has  had  his  character  formed  as 
well  as  his  intellect  instructed ;  has  in  fact  had  many 
of  the  elements  of  his  ideal  of  life  and  conduct  mod- 
ified. The  newer  psychologists  are  prone  to  say 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  "  discipline,"  —  power 
gained  in  the  mastery  of  one  subject  that  can  be 
carried  over  to  another,  —  except  when  the  two 
branches  have  certain  ideas  in  common.  Their  mis- 
take lies  in  forgetting  that  all  subjects,  when  related 
to  character  development,  are  connected  by  some 
ethical  ideas,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  isolate 
any  subject  entirely  from  any  other  in  this  respect. 
The  partial  truth  of  their  contention  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  power  to  be  carried  over  is  greater  in  those 
cases  in  which  other  ideas  are  also  held  in  common 
by  both  branches  of  subject  matter. 

The  real  discipline,  whether  it  be  formal  or  not, 
doubtless  consists  of  a  common  element ;  but  this 
may  be  a  common  element  of  subject  matter,  or  a 
less  easily  distinguishable  common  ethical  element, 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  character  of  the  pupil, 
in  an  attribute  brought  out  in  the  study  of  one  sub- 
ject and  preserved  for  the  other.  This  is  entirely 
possible  in  ethical  attributes  (such  as  patience, 
accuracy,  concentration,  persistence,  etc.),  while  not 
in  the  same  sense  possible  in  more  intellectual 
possessions. 


SELF-REALIZATION  245 

The  primary  teacher,  however,  has  much  more  to 
consider  than  is  involved  in  the  cases  presupposed 
thus  far  in  the  discussion.  In  the  primary-reading 
work,  for  instance,  the  greater  number  of  lessons 
concern  real  ideas,  such  as  help  to  make  up  intel- 
ligence in  many  provinces  of  intellectual  life;  or 
such  as  are  more  vitally  related  to  moral  develop- 
ment than  those  referred  to  in  the  supposed  early 
lessons.  In  the  brief  stories  of  interest  to  children 
the  elements  of  sociology  and  history  are  found ;  in 
other  aspects  of  these  same  stories  are  suggestions 
of  life  as  idealized  by  the  imagination, —  the  actual 
elements  of  literature.  Albeit  the  primary  teacher 
deals  with  the  veriest  elements;  these  are  adapted 
to  the  undeveloped  or  but  partly  developed  human 
being  who  is  the  pupil.  It  is  the  same  problem, 
whatever  the  stage  of  development,  although  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  problem  of  the  primary  teacher 
has  some  complications  and  difficulties  not  present 
in  the  work  of  the  later  grades.  It  will  therefore 
seem  simpler  if  we  consider  the  effect  of  the  mastery 
of  ideas  in  a  more  advanced  stage  of  growth  of  the 
pupil.  For  the  purpose  of  simple  illustration  suppose 
we  take  some  ideas  from  the  subject  of  history. 

History  is  based  on  the  social  nature  of  man.  Its 
most  important  principle  is  the  idea  of  cooperation. 
This  necessitates  its  opposite,  —  competition  or  con- 
flict of  action.  A  human  being,  subsisting  by  himself 


246  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  thinking  and  earning  for  himself  only,  would 
not  be  living  in  an  historical  relation.  The  thought 
of  the  other  (of  others),  with  mutuality  of  interests 
or  seeming  oppositions  of  interests,  —  all  these  must 
develop  in  the  thought  of  one  who  studies  his- 
tory in  even  its  simplest  phases.  One  is  thus  led  to 
consider  the  essence  of  motives  as  related  to  con- 
duct and  character  by  standards  of  right  and  wrong. 
These  themes,  moreover,  if  properly  presented  by 
the  teacher,  have  peculiar  interest  for  a  self-active, 
responsible  being,  who  is  just  now  developing  his 
standards  of  conduct,  and  who  feels  that  people  like 
himself  in  mental  make-up,  moved  by  the  same 
human  motives,  have  acted  this  drama  of  life  which 
history  spreads  out  for  his  contemplation.  A  little 
human  touch  of  this  sort,  given  to  a  single  striking 
event,  has  in  it  the  power  to  hold  a  student  to  the 
mastery  of  other  less  exciting  bits  of  the  subject,  if 
he  comes  to  believe  that  these  less  exciting  incidents 
are  preparations  for  coming  events  of  large  signifi- 
cance. So  while  the  teacher  of  history  may  in  a  few 
instances  have  to  fall  back  on  those  less  noticeable 
ethical  relationships  spoken  of  in  connection  with 
the  early  reading  lessons,  it  is  not  necessary  at  all 
in  the  more  advanced  lessons.  The  very  ideas  them- 
selves are  charged  and  surcharged  with  human  in- 
terest and  ethical  import,  and  the  pupil  is  every 
day  becoming  a  more  ethical  being  by  the  very 


SELF-REALIZATION  247 

contemplation  of  the  ideas  which  make  up  the  suc- 
cessive lessons  of  the  curriculum.  The  pupil  himself 
has  changed  from  a  nonethical,  nonhistorical  being 
into  one  who  considers  the  actions  of  others  as  care- 
fully as  his  own,  who  understands  the  motives  which 
underlie  classes  of  actions,  who  has  become  altruistic 
in  his  thinking,  always  relating  his  own  actions  in 
life  with  those  of  his  fellow  makers  of  contemporary 
history.  He  is  seeing  each  day  more  and  more 
clearly  how  ideas  develop  into  customs,  customs 
into  laws,  and  laws  into  institutions.  He  is  seeing 
more  and  more  clearly  each  day  the  meaning  of 
national  honor  and  national  duty ;  and  he  is  on  the 
road  to  a  right  conception  of  the  meaning  of  the 
word  "citizen."  Within  himself  he  has  grown, — 
has  become  broader  in  his  conceptions,  more  altruis- 
tic in  his  feelings,  more  acute  in  his  conclusions, 
more  agreeable  in  his  social  relations  in  the  local 
institutions  of  school  and  family.  All  these  things 
manifest  themselves  in  his  spiritual  growth,  his  de- 
veloped worth ;  in  a  bound  he  has  advanced  on  the 
road  toward  self-realization, — to  become  the  best  per- 
sonality that  his  human  endowments  make  possible. 
History  therefore  tends  in  this  way  to  develop 
the  growing  youth  into  a  practically  moral  person. 
We  must  turn  to  literature  —  the  expression  of  life 
idealized — for  another  marvelous  stimulation  to- 
ward human  development.  If  history  teaches  what 


248  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

has  been  and  what  is,  literature  is  a  greater  stimulus, 
because  it  teaches  what  life  may  be.  If  history  leads 
to  a  largeness  of  personality  in  the  comprehension 
of  the  long  line  of  events  by  which  the  past  has 
become  the  present,  literature  lifts  the  veil  and  sends 
the  mind  down  the  widening  vista  of  the  future. 
What  the  present  may  become  in  the  future  is  its 
theme.  All  that  human  nature  in  the  countless  ages 
of  the  past  did  because  of  its  powers,  is  but  a  hint 
of  all  that  the  human  being  may  accomplish  by  virtue 
of  his  powers.  Literature,  with  many  pupils,  opens 
the  way  to  seeing,  hoping,  striving,  and  attaining. 
Literature  helps  the  growing  student  to  gather  up 
his  elements  of  knowledge  and  feeling  and  to  weave 
them  into  ideals  of  achievement.  What  worth  has 
such  a  being  in  himself,  for  himself !  The  theme  is 
infinite  in  its  possibilities  because  human  nature  is 
infinite  in  possible  attainment. 

Turning  now  to  geography,  we  find  a  set  of  ideas 
of  slightly  different  significance,  though  geography 
and  history  have  many  points  of  likeness  in  their 
relation  to  human  welfare.  Mere  intelligence,  espe- 
cially as  to  material  matters,  is  of  little  worth  in  the 
formation  of  ideals  unless  this  intelligence  is  some- 
what touched  with  feeling,  —  emotion,  —  tending  to- 
ward aspiration  or  longing  after  achievement.  So 
mere  knowledge  of  the  earth  as  such  —  of  its  size, 
shape,  and  other  physical  conditions  —  has  little  value 


SELF-REALIZATION  249 

in  any  moral  sense.  The  mastery  of  such  knowledge 
leads  a  person  from  a  grade  of  ignorance  to  a  grade 
of  intelligence,  it  is  true ;  and  doubtless  it  is  worth 
while  for  the  mere  sense  of  larger  outlook  which 
a  student  so  gains,  but  the  supreme  worth  of  such 
knowledge  comes  only  when  it  is  learned  in  some 
human  relation.  The  earth  as  the  home  of  man  and 
the  theater  of  his  advancing  civilization  is  the  real 
theme  of  geography.  History  shows  the  drama  in 
progress  and  treats  especially  of  the  human  forces 
which  retard  or  advance  its  action ;  to  the  student  it 
furnishes  both  intelligence  and  motive  for  his  own 
part  as  an  actor  in  the  present  and  future.  Geography 
also  shows  the  drama  of  human  life,  but  it  has  to  do 
chiefly  with  the  physical  forces  which  retard  or  ad- 
vance the  interests  of  the  contending  factions  on 
the  stage.  History  doubtless  makes  the  more  direct 
appeal  to  human  motive,  and  renders  cumulative 
and  effective  these  strong  aspirations  after  achieve- 
ment. Geography  states  clearly  the  physical  con- 
ditions under  which  achievement  is  possible,  and 
thus  tends  directly  to  sanity  and  reason  in  the 
ordering  of  action. 

What  we  are  now  is  not  entirely  accounted  for 
by  historical  narration,  though  this  narration  should 
deal  in  historical  cause  and  effect  so  far  as  these  are 
related  to  people  alone.  We  are  what  we  are,  partly 
because  we  live  where  we  do,  with  the  consequent 


250  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

physical  conditions  of  life.  The  historical  struggle 
has  always  included  the  getting  of  food,  clothing, 
and  shelter;  and  what  else  has  been  accomplished 
has  in  the  main  been  done  in  the  margin  of  life  left 
after  such  struggle.  What  is  done  with  the  margin 
of  life,  however,  is  dependent  on  the  qualities  devel- 
oped in  the  struggle.  Geography,  therefore,  must 
show  each  nation  of  the  world  struggling  with  the 
physical  conditions  of  its  special  habitat,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  favoring  conditions,  overcoming  adverse 
ones,  and  giving  a  margin  of  life.  But  the  panorama 
must  be  so  placed  as  to  show  the  steady  gain  in 
moral  qualities  in  the  struggle,  rendering  the  mar- 
gin of  life,  beyond  mere  comfort,  worth  while.  Few 
desires  above  physical  comfort  are  felt  by  savages. 
If,  therefore,  the  savage  live  in  a  tropical  climate 
where  food  is  plentiful  and  clothing  and  shelter  un- 
necessary, the  margin  of  life  left  is  large  but  useless. 
It  is  useless  because  the  struggle  has  been  too  slight 
to  develop  qualities  which  alone  enable  the  human 
being  to  use  the  margin  in  worthy  achievement. 
Thus  history  is  impossible  in  such  elementary  so- 
ciety. On  the  other  hand,  if  a  savage  people  live  in 
a  frigid  zone,  the  struggle  for  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter  takes  all  the  time,  leaving  no  margin  for 
worthier  effort.  While  the  struggle  here  gives  the 
germ  of  many  noble  characteristics,  these  have  little 
opportunity  for  exercise  in  higher  forms  and  soon 


SELF-REALIZATION  251 

cease  to  grow.  There  is  no  room  here  for  history,  — 
no  margin  of  life  for  spiritual  achievement. 

Geography  deals  not  only  with  climatic  conditions 
as  affecting  the  human  struggle  for  more  and  better 
life,  but  with  all  the  physical  facts  which  affect  this 
struggle.  Thus  it  is  that  soil,  rivers,  forests,  mines, 
plant  life,  conditions  of  traffic,  etc.  become  important 
facts  of  the  lesson  in  geography.  But  in  order  that 
these  facts  shall  be  helpful  in  promoting  the  growth 
of  character  they  must  be  taught  in  their  human  re- 
lation ;  that  is,  they  must  be  shown  to  be  conditions 
or  motives  for  human  action  in  the  supplying  of 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  or  in  satisfying  some  of 
those  higher  wants  which  have  been  slowly  developed 
in  man  through  the  struggle  to  live  more  and  more 
comfortably  and  happily  and  worthily.  Therefore, 
while  history  portrays  the  human  struggle  on  the 
side  of  the  human  will  working  in  and  through  so- 
ciety, geography  portrays  the  drama  of  the  human 
struggle  amid  physical  conditions  which  suggest,  en- 
courage, or  hinder  effort,  —  primarily  effort  to  secure 
physical  comfort,  but  secondarily  effort  to  enlarge 
that  margin  of  life  which  is  the  only  field  for  human 
culture. 

The  motives  that  initiate  action  in  the  human 
drama  of  history  are,  on  the  whole,  of  a  higher  order 
than  those  which  initiate  action  in  the  human  drama 
as  portrayed  in  geography ;  but  both  views  are  equally 


252  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

essential  to  the  development  of  the  growing  child. 
These  two  subjects  are  inextricably  intertwined 
in  their  details,  and  should  be  treated  as  cognate 
branches.  Each  drama  in  its  advancement  furnishes 
motives  for  the  other;  and  the  two  should  often  be 
shown  as  advancing  substantially  together.  Never- 
theless certain  phases  of  this  human  advancement 
are  distinctly  conditioned  by  facts  and  reasons  which 
are  evidently  geographical  in  character,  while  certain 
others  are  conditioned  by  facts  and  reasons  which 
are  as  indisputably  historical  in  their  nature.  Here, 
therefore,  there  is  properly  a  line  of  demarcation 
noted,  across  which,  however,  numerous  relations, 
causal  and  otherwise,  extend. 

To  many  teachers  the  numerous  facts  of  geog- 
raphy—  climate,  soil,  products,  occupations,  etc. — 
seem  so  many  separate  ideas  thrown  together  in  a 
hodgepodge  without  law  or  unity;  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  many  of  the  textbooks  on  geography 
rather  encourage  this  conception.  The  prominence 
sometimes  given  to  the  artificial  boundaries  of  states 
or  countries  lends  color  to  this  view.  The  exact 
boundary  of  a  particular  state  of  the  United  States, 
for  instance,  is  a  fact  of  little  geographical  impor- 
tance, unless  taught  with  reference  to  its  meaning 
in  human  society.  Certain  social,  legal,  and  political 
procedures  are  actually  and  finally  conditioned  by 
such  boundary ;  but  the  real  industrial  interests  of  the 


SELF-REALIZATION  253 

people  of  the  state,  together  with  most  of  their  social 
and  even  their  chief  political  interests,  are  bound  up 
with  those  of  a  whole  group  of  states,  whose  physical 
attributes  are  in  some  important  aspects  identical  or 
similar.  In  such  case  the  state  is  to  be  treated,  in  great 
measure,  as  a  component  part  of  this  whole,  and  its 
chief  interests  inferred  from  such  connection. 

To  play  its  part  in  child  culture,  the  material  of 
geographical  instruction  must  be  given  primarily  as 
first-hand  knowledge ;  and  thus  the  real  knowledge 
will  be  gained  which  can  later  be  worked  over  into 
geographical  ideals.  Maps  and  books  are  important 
aids  to  instruction  at  certain  stages  of  the  work,  but 
these  should  be  used  as  aids,  and  not  as  constitut- 
ing the  subject  matter  itself.  The  world  is  all  about 
us  and  within  easy  reach  of  the  student  and  teacher 
of  geography.  All  conceptions  of  climate,  soil,  land 
forms,  and  such  other  facts  as  condition  directly  the 
industrial  and  economic  life  of  a  people,  should  be 
gained  by  the  child  from  a  study  of  these  as  exhibited 
in  that  part  of  the  world  which  constitutes  his  neigh- 
borhood. This  is  made  difficult  in  the  case  of  city 
children,  on  account  of  their  slight  acquaintance  with 
rural  life ;  but  even  this  obstacle  is  overcome  by  study- 
ing the  industries  of  a  city  in  such  a  way  as  to  imply 
the  surrounding  country  life. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  not  all  of  one's  knowl- 
edge is  to  be  obtained  at  first-hand,  but  only  enough 


254  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

to  enable  one  to  interpret  truly  and  readily  books, 
maps,  and  other  aids  to  study.  So  in  reference  to 
foreign  countries,  a  sufficient  amount  of  first-hand 
information  may  be  obtained  to  make  even  book 
knowledge  realistic  thereafter.  To  illustrate :  a  con- 
siderable number  of  our  southern  states  are  engaged 
in  industries  growing  out  of  the  cultivation  of  the 
cotton  plant.  It  is  possible  for  the  teacher  to  have 
specimens  of  the  cotton  plant  representing  different 
stages  of  its  growth  from  seed  to  maturity,  together 
with  various  grades  of  cotton  cloth  made  into  use- 
ful articles  of  clothing,  or  at  least  capable  of  being 
made  into  such  articles.  With  these  means  at  hand 
the  teacher  may  assist  the  child  to  construct  for 
himself  mentally  the  whole  picture  or  drama  of 
human  society,  so  far  as  the  struggle  to  secure 
clothing  from  the  cotton  plant  limits  or  conditions 
such  struggle. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  the  child  him- 
self has  to  live  slowly  through  all  the  stages  of  such 
struggle.  Those  schools  which  have  taken  up  simi- 
lar problems  and  taught  children  to  construct  obso- 
lete forms  of  looms  and  other  machinery,  and  to  go 
through  the  slow  process  of  production  of  finished 
fabrics  in  primitive  forms  and  by  primitive  methods, 
have  wasted  precious  hours  of  child  life  and  dulled 
final  interest  by  the  slavish  performance  and  repeti- 
tion of  that  which  the  child  has  already  constructed 


SELF-REALIZATION  255 

as  ideals.  The  very  swiftness  of  imaging  and  im- 
agery is  a  great  element  of  human  interest.  With 
ideas  of  the  physical  forces  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  re- 
lation of  these  ideas  to  climatic  conditions ;  with  ideas 
of  soil,  and  of  the  relation  of  these  to  plant  growth, 
the  pupil  is  ready  to  use  books,  maps,  and  pictures 
to  assist  him  in  creating,  from  the  meager  materials 
suggested,  the  whole  human  drama  as  related  to  the 
cotton  plant.  The  single  cotton  plant  aided  by  a 
good  picture  gives  the  mental  conception  of  a  cot- 
ton field,  with  the  mode  of  culture,  the  grade  of 
labor  used,  and  all  the  other  accessories  of  this  act 
in  the  drama ;  while  the  specimens  of  cloth  shown, 
together  with  pictures  of  factories,  stores,  and  fin- 
ished goods,  give  the  successive  acts.  Many  books 
present  facts  concerning  the  different  stages,  and 
incidentally  give  an  impression  of  the  contribution 
to  human  culture,  in  artistic  finish  of  goods  and  in 
other  ways,  which  the  cotton  plant  makes.  The  limi- 
tation which  its  culture  and  manufacture  place  upon 
the  development  of  laborers  and  factory  hands  forms 
a  part  of  the  final  picture.  Sociological,  commercial, 
and  political  implications  are  plainly  brought  for- 
ward, and  many  inferences  in  regard  to  the  facts 
and  possibilities  of  human  life  are  pressed  upon  the 
attention  of  the  learner. 

How   intensely  interesting  and  humanizing  be- 
comes this  sort  of  study  as  it  ranges  over  the  world 


256  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

and  considers  the  human  relations  of  the  various 
industries  that  are  conditioned  and  partly  controlled 
by  geographical  facts !  The  cocoanut  tree  and  the 
industries  and  products  to  which  it  gives  rise,  the 
silk  plant,  mining  interests,  grazing,  common  fann- 
ing,—  all  lend  themselves  to  such  treatment,  result- 
ing in  an  enchanting  story  of  human  struggle  and 
advancement.  Although  conditioned  more  or  less 
by  geographical  facts,  they  are  colored  by  human 
courage,  insight,  and  perseverance,  —  the  very  obsta- 
cles of  nature  being  turned  into  potent  instruments 
of  human  culture. 

While  a  child  is  pursuing  a  course  of  study  in  the 
spirit  and  by  the  method  indicated  above,  certain 
changes  are  taking  place  in  him,  caused  or  con- 
ditioned by  such  study.  These  changes  are  not 
changes  of  his  nature,  but  rather  changes  in  the 
stage  of  his  development.  Certain  mental  and  spirit- 
ual possibilities  of  his  nature  are  no  longer  mere 
potentialities,  but  have  become  actualities,  as  attri- 
butes of  a  partly  developed  person,  just  as  before  they 
were  potential  attributes  of  an  undeveloped  person. 
These  characteristics  were  always  involved  in  him 
as  possibilities,  or  they  could  not  have  been  evolved 
as  actualities.  Some  of  these  new  characteristics  are 
chiefly  mental ;  others,  overpoweringly  moral  or  eth- 
ical in  their  significance.  The  power  to  conceive  of 
large  things,  —  of  large  areas  of  land,  seemingly 


SELF-REALIZATION  257 

illimitable  acres,  of  great  forces  operating  over  large 
spaces,  as  the  winds,  —  this  newly  acquired  mental 
attribute  is  of  great  significance  in  the  mental 
and  spiritual  development  of  a  young  person.  This 
changed  attribute  shows  itself  markedly  in  readiness 
in  imaging  large  things,  in  easy  construction  of  ideas 
into  combinations  showing  causal  or  other  relations, 
and  in  increased  power  to  draw  rational  conclusions 
in  reference  to  great  world  movements. 

The  mental  creation  of  the  physical  world,  which 
each  child  begins  before  he  comes  to  school,  and 
continues  in  his  geographical  studies  thereafter,  is  of 
supreme  importance  in  personal  culture.  As  it  pro- 
gresses the  child  is  liberated  —  made  larger  by  the 
life  of  the  world  he  images  —  and  freed  from  limi- 
tations of  action  placed  about  him  by  ignorance.  He 
is  made  mentally  able  to  take  his  place  among  work- 
ers whose  chief  business  is  to  control  and  direct  these 
forces  to  beneficent  ends.  He  no  longer  concerns  him- 
self with  the  little  and  petty,  but  has  ideals  that  spur 
him  on  to  larger  and  more  hopeful  action.  There  is 
a  distinctly  ethical  or  moral  significance  in  such  men- 
tal change.  To  think  large  conceptions  of  physical 
facts  helps  to  remove  the  limitations  of  bigotry  and 
intolerance,  even  in  moral  and  religious  provinces  of 
human  action.  If  the  student  of  astronomy  got  noth- 
ing else  out  of  his  study,  the  mere  ability  to  think 
and  at  least  partially  to  conceive  large  spaces,  and  to 


258  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

feel  the  awe  which  accompanies  such  processes,  would 
amply  repay  him  for  the  time  and  effort  required.  In 
like  manner  would  I  recommend  the  study  of  geology, 
if  only  for  the  purpose  of  achieving  the  power  to  think 
time  in  countless  eons. 

It  is  in  the  study  of  the  industries  that  the  child 
gets  the  humanest  culture  that  geography  can  give, 
if  this  portion  of  the  subject  be  well  taught  in  the 
spirit  indicated  in  these  pages.  The  picture  of  people 
contending  with  physical  forces,  harmonizing  them, 
and  using  them  to  practical  ends  in  the  production 
of  necessaries,  is  the  most  humanizing  picture  which 
geography  has  to  offer.  For  geography  to-day  shows 
this  human  struggle  not  under  conditions  of  savagery, 
in  which  it  would  have  little  of  human  suggestive- 
ness,  but  under  conditions  of  human  society.  Human 
affection  underlies  every  movement,  and  altruistic  im- 
pulses furnish  the  human  motive.  The  man  strives 
not  for  himself  alone,  but  to  obtain  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter  for  loved  ones  under  all  the  sacred  relations 
which  underlie  and  which  are  involved  in  every  form 
of  human  society.  And  these  altruistic  relations  are 
shown  by  the  exertions  of  persons  beyond  what 
would  be  called  forth  by  the  desire  for  merely  phys- 
ical comfort  for  one's  self,  and  are  ethical  sugges- 
tions of  the  greatest  possible  worth.  The  picture  of 
a  man  struggling  strenuously,  beyond  the  call  of  his 
personal  needs,  to  care  for  loved  ones  dependent  on 


SELF-REALIZATION  259 

him  as  the  result  of  human  relations,  is  among  the 
most  inspiring  of  human  visions  granted  to  mortal 
eyes.  Geography  shows  this  ethical  human  struggle 
in  all  its  stages.  Thus  while  the  study  of  geography 
fits  the  youth  for  competitive  struggle  when  he  shall 
have  reached  the  age  for  such  struggle,  it  also  fills  his 
character  with  noble  motives  which  will  initiate  and 
carry  such  struggle  through  on  altruistic  levels. 

Some  of  the  culture  values  shown  in  this  discus- 
sion as  belonging  to  geography  are  shared  with  other 
studies,  but  some  are  peculiar  to  this  branch,  at  least 
in  the  form  and  in  the  degree  here  named.  Even 
when  they  are  shared  with  other  branches  they  are, 
as  a  rule,  so  much  more  easily  attained  through  this 
branch  than  through  any  other,  that  they  should 
never  be  overlooked  by  the  teacher  of  geography. 

We  must  remember  that  the  being  whose  develop- 
ment we  are  describing  is  a  human  being,  not  yet  a 
god,  —  not  even  yet  a  pure  spirit.  His  feet  are  still  on 
the  ground,  though  his  aspirations  and  hopes  may  be 
much  higher.  There  are  other  subjects  in  the  curric- 
ulum quite  as  necessary  to  his  development  as  are 
history  and  literature  and  geography;  indeed,  in 
some  stages  of  his  development,  more  pressing.  For 
instance  it  is  especially  desirable  that  each  person  be 
so  taught  as  to  be  able  to  make  his  own  living.  It  is 
a  worthy  ambition  in  a  boy  to  become  able  to  take 
his  place  honorably  in  the  business  and  industrial 


260  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

world.  It  is  desirable  that  each  one  should  come  to 
feel  the  sense  of  economic  capability  which  makes 
one  a  person  of  consequence  in  his  community. 
While  the  immediate  reason  for  this  is  perhaps 
the  necessity  for  securing  the  physical  necessities 
and  conveniences  of  life,  the  greater  reason  is  the 
consequent  feeling  of  capacity  and  worth  which 
such  training  gives.  If,  therefore,  each  subject  be 
analyzed  into  its  elements,  and  these  elements  be 
considered  in  the  scale  of  final  worth,  it  will  be  dis- 
covered that  the  higher  reason  for  the  teaching  of 
any  subject  is  a  moral  one,  and  has  reference  to 
developing  in  the  student  himself  capacity,  or  real 
worth,  —  worth  to  himself  as  a  moral,  liberated,  and 
developed  person. 

In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  final 
culture  value  of  ideas,  from  whatever  branch  or  sub- 
ject they  are  obtained,  is  largely  dependent  on  the 
associations  placed  about  them  while  they  are  being 
acquired.  This  result  is  partly  dependent  on  the 
method  of  presentation  chosen  by  the  teacher,  and 
partly  on  the  moral  and  professional  character  of  the 
teacher  herself.  To  illustrate  the  importance  of  inci- 
dental associations,  I  offer  the  following  ideal  discus- 
sion of  a  sentence  found  in  one  of  the  popular 
geographies  of  the  day.  The  intention  is  to  show 
how  incidental  associations  gather  about  a  lesson, 
varying  with  the  character,  tact,  and  professional 


SELF-REALIZATION  261 

preparation  of  the  teacher.  The  sentence  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  port  of  New  York  is  one  of  the  great- 
est commercial  centers  of  the  world  and  includes 
the  cities  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  and 
Hoboken." 

Let  us  observe  the  results  of  two  kinds  of  teach- 
ing, by  supposing  that  two  teachers  have  assigned  the 
lesson  including  the  above  sentence.  The  first  teacher 
calls  upon  a  child  to  recite,  and  because  at  first  he 
does  not  repeat  the  words  readily,  she  reproves  him, 
and,  in  order  to  emphasize  her  displeasure,  asks  him 
suddenly  what  a  "  port "  is.  The  boy  acknowledges 
that  he  does  not  know,  and  he  is  again  reprimanded 
for  not  knowing,  despite  the  fact  that  the  teacher  her- 
self has  a  very  hazy  idea  of  what  a  port  really  is.  The 
boy  by  this  time  has  already  tried  twice  to  sit  down, 
hoping  that  the  rest  of  the  teacher's  tirade  will  fall 
upon  some  other  pupil.  The  teacher,  however,  asks 
him  to  stand  till  he  is  excused,  and  on  his  failure  to 
stand  straight,  she  commands  him  to  take  his  hands 
off  the  desk  and  stand  in  the  aisle.  When  he  has 
finally  complied  with  these  requests  she  proceeds  to 
ask  him  why  this  is  called  the  port  of  New  York 
instead  of  the  port  of  Brooklyn  or  the  port  of  Jersey 
City.  He  again  admits  his  ignorance.  Then  the 
teacher  asks  him  what  is  meant  by  a  "commercial 
center."  Again  the  boy  is  uncertain,  but  thinks  it  is 
because  ships  or  trading  vessels  load  or  unload  there. 


262  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

The  teacher  now  tells  him  he  may  be  seated,  and  she 
expresses  the  hope,  in  a  hopeless  tone,  that  next  time 
he  will  get  his  lesson  better  and  not  have  to  take 
up  so  much  of  the  time  of  the  class,  etc.  During 
this  performance  there  has  been  growing  up  in  the 
boy's  mind  a  semiconscious  conviction  that  it  does 
not  matter  in  the  least  what  a  "  port "  is,  that  a  "  com- 
mercial center"  has  no  particular  relation  to  his  life 
interests,  that  geography  is  a  dull  study,  of  little  use 
and  certainly  of  no  pleasure  to  him,  that  his  teacher 
has  been  "  picking  "  at  him,  and  that  on  the  morrow 
he  will  go  a-fishing. 

The  second  teacher  begins  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  did  the  first  teacher,  and  the  pupil  stum- 
bles in  much  the  same  way  as  did  the  pupil  in  the 
former  instance.  But  how  different  the  procedure 
from  this  point!  The  teacher,  having  prepared  her 
lesson  in  view  of  the  self-active  nature  of  the  child, 
wishes  to  enlist  the  will  and  interest  of  the  pupils  in 
the  mastery  of  this  really  complex  idea  of  the  port 
of  New  York.  She  has  already  seen  that  the  words 
of  this  sentence  must  be  made  to  carry  a  meaning 
in  order  that  they  shall  be  readily  memorized.  At 
this  critical  moment,  therefore,  she  presents  to  the 
class  a  picture  of  the  harbor  of  New  York.  This 
picture,  cut  out  of  Harpers  Weekly,  shows  the 
Narrows  and  the  broad  bay  above.  A  single  sen- 
tence or  two  explains  how  all  vessels  entering 


SELF-REALIZATION  263 

here  are  safe  from  wind  and  wave  while  they  un- 
load. A  quick  movement  by  the  teacher  shows 
another  picture  with  vessels  at  the  wharf,  while  a 
well-directed  question,  which  can  be  answered  by  a 
look  at  the  picture,  calls  attention  to  the  character 
of  the  goods  being  unloaded.  A  guess  or  two  from 
the  pupils  as  to  where  these  goods  come  from  height- 
ens interest.  Then  the  scene  is  again  shifted  to  a  pic- 
ture of  the  upper  bay  of  New  York,  with  the  adjacent 
cities  clustered  around  this  one  body  of  water,  and 
the  meaning  of  "  commercial  center  "  is  apparent.  By 
this  time  questions  come  from  pupils  as  well  as 
teacher,  and  in  the  course  of  the  answers  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  customhouse  at  New  York  is  brought 
out,  and  the  real  meaning  of  "  port "  is  made  plain, 
together  with  the  reason  why  this  particular  one 
should  be  called  the  port  of  New  York.  The  large 
number  of  vessels  shown  in  the  picture  indicates 
the  greatness  of  the  traffic,  and  the  different  kinds 
of  goods  being  unloaded  from  the  ships,  and  the 
different  flags  floating  from  the  mastheads,  show  the 
various  countries  involved  in  this  traffic;  while  a 
single  query  as  to  what  those  vessels  may  carry 
on  their  return  trip  calls  to  mind  the  immense 
resources  of  our  own  country.  The  great  cost  of 
ships,  the  many  men  needed  to  manage  them,  the 
countless  thousands  of  people  engaged  everywhere 
in  manufacturing  these  articles  so  that  they  may 


264  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

become  articles  of  merchandise,  also  receive  pass- 
ing notice. 

The  mind  of  the  pupil  is  impressed  by  all  these 
things  in  a  semiconscious  way  until  it  dawns  upon 
him  how  it  is  that  the  cooperation  of  immense 
numbers  of  people  enables  each  of  us  to  secure  for 
himself  more  comforts  in  life  than  the  millions  of 
Rockefeller  could  command  for  him  without  the 
help  of  his  fellows.  Not  only  has  this  fundamental 
principle  of  cooperation  been  thus  forcefully  borne 
in  upon  the  pupil,  but  other  associations  have  also 
attached  themselves  to  this  idea.  The  boy  has  had 
pass  through  his  mind  the  idea  of  what  a  pleasant 
companion  his  teacher  would  be  on  an  excursion ; 
he  has  begun  to  see  the  vital  relation  of  geography 
to  daily  living;  he  thinks  he  would  like  to  read 
about  the  countries  from  which  these  things  come ; 
and  he  wonders  if  he  cannot  get  some  books  of 
travel  from  the  public  library.  Already  he  has  de- 
termined that  when  he  is  a  man  he  will  visit  all 
these  countries  whose  ships  enter  our  harbors ;  and 
when  at  last  the  teacher  requires  him  to  recite  the 
sentence,  —  even  many  times,  so  that  it  may  be 
uttered  trippingly  on  the  tongue,  —  every  repetition 
comes  with  meaning  in  it,  till  at  the  close  of  the 
recitation  the  boy  is  a  new  being,  anxious  for  another 
glimpse  in  the  textbook  to  see  what  comes  next. 

One  of  these  boys  has  this  day  moved  a  long  step 


SELF-REALIZATION  265 

toward  the  street;  he  has  before  him  indifference, 
neglect  of  duty,  truancy,  the  workhouse,  and  the 
penitentiary.  The  other  has  taken  a  long  stride  to- 
ward a  happy  and  useful  citizenship.  Because  of 
this  one  lesson  he  will  in  future  have  a  greater  inter- 
est in  human  affairs,  a  broader  sympathy,  a  saner 
judgment;  he  will  be  more  cordial  in  friendship, 
more  industrious  in  school,  more  agreeable  in  the 
home.  This  difference  of  trend  has  taken  place  in  the 
two  boys  because  of  the  difference  of  treatment  in  re- 
gard to  the  same  sentence  in  geography,  —  because 
one  teacher  took  the  trouble  first  to  understand  boy 
nature  and  then  to  prepare  to  teach  the  boy  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  nature  and  destiny.  The  whole 
incident  occupied  less  than  ten  minutes,  but  the 
effects  are  permanent  and  the  difference  increas- 
ingly magnifies  as  the  years  go  on.  It  is  obvious 
that  no  matter  how  valuable  the  ideas  offered  by 
any  branch  of  study  may  be,  the  teacher  is,  after 
all,  the  most  important  part  of  the  spiritual  environ- 
ment of  the  school  child. 

If  we  now  turn  to  mathematics,  we  find  a  wholly 
different  set  of  ideas,  some  of  them  quite  essential 
to  the  right  use  of  all  other  ideas.  In  this  sense 
such  knowledge  is  fundamental  and  comes  into  the 
earliest  stages  of  human  culture.  The  fundamental 
operations  with  numbers  enter  into  all  the  minor 
utilities  of  civilization,  and  condition  all  the  moral 


266  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

effects  rising  from  domestic  and  social  life.  The 
higher  mathematics  condition  all  mastery  of  natural 
forces  for  utilitarian  uses,  and  hence  all  the  moral 
and  ethical  relations  in  which  great  industrial  enter- 
prises stand  to  social  welfare. 

Little  need  be  said,  in  reference  to  these  ideas,  to 
prove  their  general  worth  in  utilitarian  aspects  of 
life,  nor  indeed  to  show  that  great  moral  and  ethical 
results  may  flow  from  the  right  teaching  of  such 
subjects.  I  wish  rather  to  discuss  here  the  personal 
effect  on  the  individual  of  his  mastery  of  mathemat- 
ics. While  the  larger  utilitarian  results  may  be  of 
more  real  import,  —  indirectly  to  society,  and  there- 
fore, by  reflex  influence,  to  the  individual,  —  these  as- 
pects of  the  subject  have  been  made  clear  in  the  great 
feats  of  modern  achievement  in  the  mastery  of  the 
physical  universe.  And  important  as  these  uses  are, 
they  would  be  attained  just  as  well  by  the  education 
of  the  few  as  by  the  education  of  all,  since  only  the 
few  use  these  ideas  in  invention,  discovery,  and  con- 
struction. The  theme  here,  therefore,  is  rather  the 
immediate  influence  brought  to  bear  on  the  personal 
development  of  a  pupil  by  his  mastery  of  the  ele- 
mentary mathematical  ideas.  The  discussion  will  be 
suggestive  in  regard  to  methods  of  teaching  this 
branch  in  ordinary  elementary  schools. 

Number  concepts  themselves  are  of  course  con- 
ditioned on  succession  of  events  in  time,  but  these 


SELF-REALIZATION  267 

concepts  are  applicable  afterward  to  the  process  of 
estimating  in  comprehensible  fashion  all  efficient 
agencies  in  the  physical  world.  The  possibility  for 
number  creation  is  of  course  in  the  original  struc- 
ture of  the  mind;  but  the  actual  construction  of 
number  ideas,  and  the  performance  of  mathematical 
processes  with  these  number  ideas,  are  always  forced 
upon  the  mind  by  experiences  which  succeed  each 
other.  So  soon  as  the  mind  gives  attention  to  any- 
thing, succession  as  a  fact,  so  far  as  it  is  an  independ- 
ent fact,  favors  the  creation  of  number  ideas  and 
their  comparison.  This  early  work  is  done  for  the 
child  by  his  environment  before  school  age.  The 
systematizing  of  these  and  associated  ideas  in  early 
school  days  results  in  the  fundamental  operations 
and  the  ranging  of  numbers  into  places,  orders, 
periods,  etc. 

The  change  which  this  systematization  produces 
in  a  child  is  chiefly  intellectual.  Indeed  mathematics 
as  a  branch  of  knowledge  is  chiefly  intellectual,  yet 
it  is  not  wholly  so.  By  the  very  mastery  of  numbers 
and  of  the  fundamental  operations  the  child's  physical 
world  begins  to  marshal  itself  in  order.  Previous  to 
such  knowledge  it  produced  the  effect  of  a  conglom- 
eration of  attributes  without  order  or  sequence  or 
significance.  Much  that  had  before  remained  un- 
noticed is  seen  now,  and  much  that  had  before 
seemed  confused  seems  clear  now.  We  must  not 


268  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

• 

forget  the  sense  of  security  and  power  which  comes 
into  one's  life  when  one  becomes  able  to  count 
things  and  to  arrange  them  in  a  thought  order  more 
reasonable  than  that  in  which  nature  thrusts  them 
upon  him.  This  acquaintance  with  things  and  this 
new  power  over  them  become  a  sort  of  moral  stimu- 
lus to  the  will,  and  thus  prepare  the  way  for  one  to 
take  hold  of  the  facts  of  the  outer  world  and  place 
them  in  the  more  orderly  array  suggested  by  mathe- 
matical ideas.  This  opens  the  way  for  work  of  all 
kinds.  It  is  in  this  manner  that  the  commonest 
mathematical  ideas  condition  all  industry  and  all  our 
intercourse  with  one  another  which  industry  requires. 
The  more  intelligible  mathematical  ideas  become, 
the  greater  is  the  sense  of  power  over  things,  and 
the  better  is  the  understanding  of  things  essential  to 
intelligent  cooperation  with  other  workers.  It  is  a 
new  kind  of  language,  without  which  the  real  mean- 
ing of  any  language  could  not  be  made  clear. 

By  the  use  of  these  number  ideas  the  young  child 
begins  the  mastery  of  space.  An  assumed  standard 
is  forced  upon  the  mind  of  the  infant  as  it  was  upon 
the  mind  of  the  savage  in  his  feeble  attempts  to  mas- 
ter the  same  difficulties.  But  from  the  teacher  the 
child  soon  learns  the  artificial  standards  assumed  by 
society,  and  then  he  proceeds  to  master  space  as  he 
had  before  mastered  things  in  time,  using  the  funda- 
mental arithmetical  processes  for  that  purpose. 


SELF-REALIZATION  269 

Elementary  knowledge  of  arithmetic  is  usually 
urged  as  desirable  on  the  ground  of  utility  in  little 
and  common  things,  and  doubtless  this  reason  is 
sufficient  to  justify  simple  arithmetical  instruction. 
The  demand  for  accuracy  and  facility  in  operations 
is  usually  made  on  the  ground  of  utility  or  efficiency ; 
but  doubtless,  too,  a  stronger  argument  could  be 
made  for  the  same  thing  under  the  plea  for  moral 
culture  of  the  individual.  Mathematical  ideas  offer 
an  opportunity  to  impress  upon  one,  with  a  degree 
of  finality,  what  truth  really  is.  Error  is  so  easily  de- 
tected that  its  presence  can  at  once  be  made  appar- 
ent. A  child  should  be  made  to  feel  a  joy  in  the 
absolute  correctness  of  his  work.  No  other  school 
branch  offers  a  like  opportunity  to  cultivate  an 
elation  of  mind  over  actual  success,  —  success  so  ap- 
parent that  the  very  clearness  of  the  demonstration 
itself  creates  a  joyful  and  hopeful  view  of  the  world 
and  of  life.  There  ought  to  be  such  a  spirit  of  joy 
in  correctness  as  shall  allow  it  to  spill  over  and  per- 
vade all  experiences,  giving  to  one  a  sense  of  the 
presence  everywhere  of  the  eternal  verities.  Cer- 
tainty, absolute  certainty,  is  the  right  of  one's  mind, 
and  here  in  mathematics  one  may  fairly  revel  in 
it.  The  person  who  has  the  sense  of  certainty 
and  power  is  really  morally  as  well  as  intellectually 
equipped  for  mastery  over  the  world. 

It  is,  however,  in  its  application  to  the  mastery  of 


270  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

the  physical  forces  of  the  world  that  mathematics 
has  justified  itself  most  fully  as  a  subject  of  study. 
Physics  has  latterly  become  almost  a  branch  of  ap- 
plied mathematics,  so  fully  are  mathematical  ideas 
used  in  physical  and  chemical  experiments.  These 
sciences  deal  with  force ;  but  little  can  be  done  with 
force,  or  the  things  which  embody  or  transmit  force, 
without  the  ability  to  count,  to  divide,  to  multiply, 
and  to  subtract.  Physics  and  chemistry  advance  al- 
most entirely  by  counting,  measuring,  or  weighing. 

The  student  of  physics  or  chemistry  places  things 
in  certain  relations  to  one  another  —  relations  of  po- 
sition, number,  magnitude,  proximity,  quantity,  tem- 
perature, etc.  —  and  observes  what  happens.  From 
this  he  infers  the  action  and  reaction  of  forces  which 
are  embodied  in  or  transmitted  by  the  things  with 
which  he  works.  The  significance  of  this  study  for 
practical  purposes  depends  on  the  fact  that  he  is 
dealing  in  the  laboratory  with  exactly  the  same 
kinds  of  forces  as  those  he  meets  in  his  daily  life. 
The  advantage  of  study  in  the  laboratory  is  that 
here  one  has  special  conveniences,  appliances,  etc., 
to  the  end  that  he  may  find  out  facts  and  laws 
about  these  common  forces.  He  may  then  act  more 
rationally  every  day  in  the  presence  of  these  same 
forces  in  his  daily  life.  Here  again  comes  a  great 
sense  of  security,  —  a  confidence  in  the  friendliness 
of  the  natural  forces,  since  now  one  knows  how  to 


SELF-REALIZATION  271 

get  along  with  them  advantageously.  And  this  new 
attribute  is  a  moral  one,  leading  to  a  sense  of  greater 
worthiness  in  the  individual.  Furthermore,  the  study 
of  physics  or  of  the  physical  forces  in  the  laboratory, 
under  mathematical  tests  of  counting,  weighing,  and 
measuring,  secures  special  training  in  accuracy, 
patience,  persistence,  etc.,  in  addition  to  mere  intel- 
ligence. Science  rightly  pursued  is  a  distinctly 
moral  force  in  the  culture  of  character.  Especially 
is  this  true  of  these  subjects  when  pursued  in  their 
higher  ranges.  In  such  case  the  student  catches  a 
glimpse  of  something  more  than  mere  force  in 
action.  He  finds  that  back  of  these  changing  phe- 
nomena, to  which  he  grows  accustomed  in  the  lab- 
oratory, there  are  laws  and  principles  making  for 
permanence  in  the  physical  world.  Through  the 
further  study  of  these  laws  and  principles  he  is  led 
to  see  the  prevalence  of  law  and  order  in  the  phys- 
ical universe,  and  to  infer  them  in  other  provinces  of 
human  experience.  All  this  change  of  attitude  to- 
ward things  and  forces  is  distinctly  moral  in  a  very 
high  sense,  and  tends  to  stability  of  character. 

There  is  one  grave  danger  to  character  develop- 
ment for  the  student  of  physics,  unless  he  be 
guarded  by  his  teachers  against  certain  influences 
of  the  laboratory.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the 
student  of  physics  learns  to  depend  on  laboratory 
tests  for  trustworthy  results.  Unless  his  teacher 


272  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

forewarns  him  of  danger  he  is  liable  to  think  that  these 
tests  of  counting,  weighing,  and  measuring  are  the 
only  tests  of  truth  that  there  are,  and  he  easily  learns 
to  distrust  any  evidence  that  does  not  lend  itself 
to  such  proof.  It  seems  so  simple  to  test  things  in 
the  laboratory,  and  the  truth  thus  vouched  for  so  ob- 
trudes itself  upon  the  attention,  that  the  student 
readily  concludes  all  truth  to  be  similarly  obtrusive 
in  its  verification.  The  fact  is  that  much  of  the 
higher  realm  of  truth  is  entirely  above  these  mathe- 
matical and  material  tests.  Some  truth,  especially  in 
psychology  and  ethics,  is  seen  directly,  and  believed 
on  evidence  of  a  moral  and  personal  character 
which  does  not  in  any  way  lend  itself  to  outside 
tests.  The  remedy  for  a  prejudice  resulting  from 
the  too  exclusive  study  of  physical  or  chemical  sub- 
jects consists  in  the  study  of  psychology,  logic,  and 
metaphysics.  No  scientist  is  a  safe  adviser,  even  in 
his  own  field,  until  he  has  enlarged  the  range  of  his 
mental  horizon  by  including  in  his  studies  subjects 
requiring  intuition  and  reflection.  A  too  close  re- 
striction to  physical  themes  is  liable  to  lead  to 
agnosticism  in  reference  to  other  forms  of  truth. 
Liberality  of  range  in  studies  will  restore  sanity  of 
judgment. 

The  physicist  needs  one  more  caution.  He  has 
been  so  accustomed  to  measure  force  by  physical 
tests  that  he  fails  to  note  that  there  are  forces  that 


SELF-REALIZATION  273 

do  not  subject  themselves  to  such  estimates.  The 
mere  physicist,  as  such,  has  no  explanation  for  a 
force  like  that  enshrined  in  a  seed,  much  less  that 
involved  in  the  human  will.  A  course  of  study  in 
biology  and  psychology  is  needed  to  restore  balance 
of  mind  and  to  rid  judgment  of  narrowness  and 
prejudice. 

It  seems  unnecessary  for  present  purposes  to 
analyze  all  the  subjects  taught  in  the  school.  We 
have  seen  enough  to  convince  us  that  education,  to 
be  worthy  of  the  name,  must  be  sane,  efficient,  and 
liberal.  A  little  learning  is  not  a  "  dangerous  thing  " 
because  it  is  a  little  learning,  but  because  it  is  a 
little  learning.  More  learning  removes  the  danger. 

We  have  seen  the  perils  of  narrow  aims  and 
special  courses,  which  early  set  limits  to  endeavor 
and  repeat  exercises  till  they  benumb  interest  and 
kill  initiative.  Industrial  education  is  a  good  thing 
in  its  tendency  toward  efficiency,  but  it  would  prove 
to  be  a  bad  thing  if  we  came  to  feel  that  its  effi- 
ciency is  the  only  kind  that  the  human  being  is 
capable  of  attaining.  Before  you  can  properly  set 
up  the  contented  man  as  a  model,  so  far  as  char- 
acter is  concerned,  you  must  inquire  into  the  con- 
ditions of  his  contentment.  A  certain  amount  of 
dissatisfaction  is  frequently  preferable  to  the  con- 
tentment which  rests  in  less  than  reasonable  achieve- 
ment. The  danger  of  a  special  course  for  very  young 


274  EDUCATION  AS  GROWTH 

people  is  that  it  leads  to  a  degree  of  skill  which  may 
secure  employment  before  sufficient  intelligence  and 
morality  have  been  attained  to  serve  as  ballast  for 
character.  It  is  a  personal  tragedy  when  a  young 
person  is  led  into  a  present  small  success  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  him  satisfied  with  it  when  larger 
success  is  easily  within  his  reach.  Here,  then,  is  the 
danger  of  all  aims  of  education  which  do  not  include 
the  highest  and  best  possible  for  each  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. It  is  in  this  sense  that  I  have  tried 
in  these  pages  to  explain,  illustrate,  and  enforce  the 
highest  possible  aim  in  education,  —  human  perfec- 
tion, the  highest  attainable  excellence ;  that  is,  the 
highest  attainable  excellence  for  each  under  the 
circumstances.  This  does  not  mean  an  impossibility ; 
it  only  means  all  that  is  possible.  It  also  means  that 
when  one  has  attained  any  particular  degree  of  ex- 
cellence, he  is  to  believe  that  there  is  something 
else  better  still,  which  he  may  attain  when  his  cir- 
cumstances have  so  changed  that  it  becomes  pos- 
sible for  him.  This  state  of  mind  is  not  one  of 
restlessness  nor  of  fretful  discontent,  but  rather  of 
joy  in  what  has  already  been  attained,  and  a  belief 
in  the  life  that  is  better  still.  The  present  life,  seen 
as  the  basis  of  a  still  better  life,  is  a  source  of  genuine 
satisfaction.  The  life  that  is  to  be,  when  circum- 
stances make  it  possible,  is  always  sending  a  stream  of 
the  "  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land  "  backward 


SELF-REALIZATION  275 

on  the  present  life,  rendering  it  glorious  as  a  par- 
tial success  that  is  a  sure  harbinger  of  the  greater 
success  just  ahead. 

A  life  so  modified  cannot  be  an  unhappy  life.  It 
is  full  of  happiness  on  its  own  account  and  full  of 
hope  for  the  future.  It  remains  to  say  that  efficiency 
is  far  from  being  necessarily  a  narrow  or  selfish  aim. 
True  efficiency  is  measured  by  altruistic  standards, 
and  the  most  lowly  service  given  in  love  is  a  char- 
acter-forming force.  Many  persons,  therefore,  who 
are  but  meagerly  educated,  in  the  technical  sense 
of  the  word,  carry  forward  their  character  culture  be- 
cause their  expert  service  in  humble  fields  is  done 
for  the  sake  of  the  dear  ones  at  home,  or  for  others 
whose  welfare  they  have  at  heart.  But  such  persons 
are  doubly  blessed  if,  with  this  expertness,  they  have 
been  made  intelligent  and  moral,  so  that  a  swifter 
progress  is  possible,  and  so  that  higher  and  nobler 
work  will  come  to  them  as  they  advance  in  life.  The 
ever-receding  ideal  of  perfection  lures  them  on,  culti- 
vating in  them  a  "  divine  discontent  "  with  the  pres- 
ent, only  in  the  sense,  however,  that  it  shows  them 
an  ever  better  and  better  possible  future. 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 


THE   JONES   READERS 

By  L.  H.  JONES 

President  of  the  Michigan  State  Normal  College,  Ypsiland 


THE   REGULAR   EDITION 

FIRST  READER fo 

SECOND  READER     

THIRD  READER    

FOURTH  READER     .... 

FIFTH  READER !!!!!!!!      .75 

THE  JONES   READERS   BY   GRADES 

A  rearrangement  of  the  regular  edition  in  a  series  of  eight  books  corresponding  to  the 
grades  below  high  school,  with  additional  matter  in  Books  IV,  V,  VI   VII  and  VIII 

B°0*  I .'    .  $0.30 

BOOK  II ::. 

BOOK  III 

BOOK  IV 

BOOK  V 4, 

BOOK  VI .'  45 

BOOK  VII .    ,  '4| 

BOOK  VIII .    .    .       50 


THE  Jones  Readers  are  unrivaled  in  the  amount  and  in  the 
quality  of  reading  material. 

They  contain  the  most  effective  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
most  unobtrusive  ethical  teaching. 

They  are  most  practical  and  teachable  because  of  their  care- 
ful grading  and  their  explanatory  and  biographical  notes. 

They  demonstrate  the  wide  experience  and  authoritative  rank 
of  the  author. 

They  are  unexcelled  in  illustrations  and  in  mechanical  ex- 
ecution. 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


ASPECTS  OF  CHILD  LIFE  AND 


By  G,  S^A^LEY  HALL,   President  of  Clark  University  and  Professor  of 
**  Psychology,  and  Some  of  His  Pupils 


izmo.     Cloth.      326  pages 


T^\URING  the  last  twenty  years  one  of  the  lines 
•*-^  of  research  carried  on  by  President  G.  Stanley 
Hall  and  students  working  under  his  direction,  at 
Clark  University,  has  been  the  psychology  of  child- 
hood and  its  applications  to  education.  These 
researches  have  been  published  in  the  University 
periodicals,  which  are  of  necessity  expensive  and 
limited  in  circulation,  and  have  not,  therefore, 
hitherto  been  available  to  the  general  public.  The 
object  of  the  present  volume,  which  is  to  be  the 
first  of  a  series,  is  to  make  accessible  to  parents 
and  teachers,  in  somewhat  condensed  form  and 
at  moderate  price,  the  results  of  these  researches 
which  are  now  recognized  as  of  fundamental 
importance  in  all  educational  work. 

198 
GINN  &  COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


•Win 

A    000033912    7 


